Staying the Same, Yet, Totally Different

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Originally appears in the Summer 2020 issue.

By Matthew Broda and Trevor Dunlap

Lunch in the dining hall just felt different. It was the same food, same group of students, same routine, but we all knew something was about to happen. The country had been slowly waking to the reality that COVID-19 was not a distant problem. It was going to be a driving force in our lives for the foreseeable future, but we didn’t know how.

As lunch shifted into the afternoon activities, the professional staff members turned their attention to the news coming out of Ohio’s communication channels — looking for clues or insight as to what we could expect. At 2:30 pm our governor held a press conference to update Ohio’s citizens on the state’s response and outlook surrounding the COVID-19 situation. Eighteen minutes into the press conference the Governor made the announcement that would change the immediate lives of Ohioans for months to come:
And just like that, schools were closed — cue the Alice Cooper classic “Schools Out.”