Thanksgiving Day brings with it many familiar traditions and whether it be seeing family and friends, digging into your favorite seasonal dishes, or just relaxing on the couch to watch the parade or some football, there’s usually plenty for everyone.
And the days and nights before the day hold their own traditions as well for college students, with time off and short trips home for the holiday allowing time to catch up with family and friends. But this year, with everyone’s traditions being thrown for a loop, it looks like rekindling with old friends and settling back in at home will be swapped with COVID-19 tests and isolation for the most part.
“It was really all about just being cautious for the sake of my parents and the other people around me,” said Jonathan Luders, a Lynnfield native and Seton Hall University (in South Orange, N.J.) sophomore who came home last week. “If I did end up having it and I gave it to someone else, I’d feel awful about it.”
Luders has been laying low for the time being, even after testing negative before leaving the Seton Hall campus.
Getting tested seems to be at the top of a lot of students’ list as they make their way home this holiday. St. John’s Prep grad and Peabody native Ryan Bradley has made it a priority not only on campus, but also during his return home from his freshman year at Bryant University in Rhode Island.
Bradley was tested twice a week at school, a routine he’ll gladly continue locally.
“It was great getting tested that much, I’d get tested every day if I could,” said Bradley. “It’s all about keeping yourself and the people around you safe, so we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do.”
Any changes students have to make at home will mirror what’s going on in campuses around the country.
One example was Seton Hall, where students were given plenty of options on how to take on their first fall semester during the pandemic. Luders opted for a mix of online and in-person with the school’s “high-flex” model of learning that would have students go to class in person one day and then learn remotely the next.
“I thought it was a good way to go about things,” said Luders, a Lynnfield High alumnus. “I was able to stay distant and reduce my exposure most days, but I was also still able to get some in-person interaction, which I thought was really nice. I think Seton Hall really handled that situation well.”
Bradley opted for a similar hybrid strategy when tackling the semester.
“The only problem I had with it was that it kind of gives you an excuse to just roll out of bed and turn on your computer,” said Bradley. “That wasn’t a habit that I wanted to get into, so the in-person classes were a nice change-up.”
