More than a year after the beginning of the pandemic, it finally seems like spring again at Carleton. After a two week break, Carleton students, faculty, and staff returned to classes this past Monday, March 29 for an auspicious spring term. With in person, mixed mode, and hybrid courses switching from Zoom to in-person class sessions after the College’s week-long “cool-down period” to prevent any spread of COVID-19 from spring break travel, Carleton’s campus has begun to come alive over the past two weeks.
Not only has the warm weather brought out the ladybugs and squirrels that we missed winter term, the Bald Spot and other outdoor spaces are being reclaimed by student life and classroom learning alike.
Students have also returned to indoor classroom settings, with a vast number of classes being offered in-person in some capacity for students living and working in Northfield (more of whom have returned to campus this term than any other term this year). Professors anf students continue to adjust to these differences – I for example am taking my second in-person English class of the year, but will be attending classes in the slightly smaller classroom of Weitz 136 rather than the enormous Weitz Cinema where Pierre Hecker’s Shakespeare course was held this fall.
Finally, Carleton community members on and off campus alike have been feeling the excitement as vaccines become more available in Minnesota and across the U.S. Many Carls have driven to get first doses of vaccines from pharmacies across southern Minnesota and some Carleton community members have been randomly selected to receive the vaccine here on campus.
Here at the Miscellany, we are looking forward to an exciting term of more outdoor events, May’s comps symposium, and meeting all the newly declared English majors from the class of 2023!
