"Armor Up, Knights!" Week 1 (8/24-8/28)

 "Armor Up, Knights" 

The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to drastically affect the world and the United States with the fear of catching the virus. It has thrown many students off balance and leaves them with numerous different experiences that hopefully this internship can present to future students and professors. I've noticed a few things upon my return to the University of Central Florida on the first week. 

"Armor Up, Knights" is a phrase that the university uses to remind students to wear masks on campus. Sometimes I forget that I need a mask, but I have always wore it on campus. 

The first thing that one will notice if they are a previous faculty or student is the parking situation. Previously, the university struggled with providing apt parking spots for visitors. For example, Garage B was at full capacity roughly around noon. However, this is not the case in the Fall Semester of 2020. Upon my entry to attend Dr. Murphree's class, I was struck with the lack of cars parked in the garages. 

I parked in Garage D on the second floor which was completely empty that Tuesday morning. For three years as an undergraduate, I had never experienced a stress free parking experience. On Thursday, it was the same situation.

Another experience at the college is the empty space when walking around. Normally, the first week of class would see an abundance of clubs, organizations, and gatherings of students trying to recruit new people into their social circles. When I arrived and walked around on both Tuesday and Thursday, I saw empty spaces and dispersed students attending their classes. The first week, normally a parade on campus, was essentially a ghost town. 

Zoom and digital technology has challenged professors to become more educated in this aspect. Both my undergraduate and graduate experiences this week has shown me that the need to properly utilize these things is critical for a historian in a post-COVID world. How can we properly convey history to students if we cannot organize a Zoom meeting for students?

I have not yet seen any signs of an outbreak of the virus at the University of Central Florida as of writing this on Thursday (8/27/2020). 

The pandemic has drastically affected our first semester at UCF, yet we, as both students and faculty, continue to not let this hurdle trip up our journey.