“It’s been a crazy year”

Covid-19 update: “It’s been a crazy year”

Looking to Fall Semester for return to "normal"

The clouds are clearing; the sun peaking over the horizon. The promised better times – a return to “normal” – seems to be closer than ever.

More than a year after that fateful Spring Break week, when the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe, halting all on-campus classes and transforming the lives of students, faculty and everyone else, YSU is emerging with plans to a return to a regular Fall Semester starting in August.

“We have made great progress as a state and a nation, and as a university, in battling the coronavirus, and you are all to be commended for keeping yourself, your friends, family and community safe,” President Jim Tressel said in a memo to campus in May.

The university, which for the past year has held most classes remote and off campus, is planning for a full return to regular, in-classroom, face-to-face classes in the Fall, Tressel announced earlier in the spring.

Maybe the best indicator that the corner was turned came May 7 and 8, when hundreds of parents, families and friends joined together for three in-person commencement ceremonies outside at Stambaugh Stadium. One of the ceremonies honored members of the class of 2020, whose commencements were cancelled due to the pandemic.

“With all of the unprecedented challenges that the class of 2020 faced and overcame, this has to be one of the most satisfying and exciting commencements in our 113-year history,” Tressel told the graduates.

Kristin Fox, a YSU graduate and school teacher/administrator, spoke at the May 8 afternoon ceremony.

“Whew! Ok. We are here. We have arrived,” Fox told graduates after being helped to stand behind the podium at Stambaugh Stadium.

In March 2020, as the pandemic hit, Fox was hospitalized with Influenza A, leading to several complications, resulting in the removal of her arms below her elbows and legs below her knees.

“I need to take a moment to take all of this in, as I’m sure many of you do,” she said, scanning the graduates and audience. “It’s been a crazy year. Not only for me and my family, but for all of you. To be here today is truly a blessing for all of us.”