Hello and welcome to the start of a brand new semester and a brand new year!
This past semester at OU was pretty hectic – a lot of courses attempted their transition back to in-person courses, while still maintaining distances and requiring masks to ensure everyone’s safety. But, it was also a semester that felt very hopeful. For me, it was the first semester I realized that I actually love being at college. A majority of that has to do with my living arrangement. I love living in an apartment here in Athens and I love my wonderful roommates. Being able to have that space for myself has been so beneficial to me. I have been able to have my own room, my own space away from academic life, and a place to foster these important friendships.
The fall semester at HCOU was very special as well. As president, I feel immensely proud of our new and returning writers for all of the content they created – especially knowing the exterior stress they were under. I had a wonderful time catching up with them at meetings each week and getting to know them and their writing style even more!
Winter break was a generally relaxing time for me personally, and I hope it was for everyone else here at OU. I got to spend quality time with my family and friends, got to go shopping, work a few shifts, and just enjoy slower-paced living at home.
The negative of this break was that on my last week, I tested positive for COVID-19. It was truly a letdown, but I quarantined and made the best of a bad situation. I am grateful to be vaccinated and that I was not deeply affected by this illness.
Now, we are back in Athens for our first week of classes of spring semester. OU is requiring that all students, regardless of vaccination status, partake in asymptomatic testing (unless you are like me and contracted COVID-19 in the last 90 days.) The university is taking health precautions, with several courses moving to online or a hybrid format, but the university has stressed its focus on in-person learning, which I hope can gradually return. While this pandemic is certainly still on the rise, I hope that we as students can remain safe while also still continuing our lovely time here in Athens and advancing our education.
For HCOU this semester, I am extremely excited for the new content that we will create as a team. We are altering our meeting structure a bit once again – to accommodate our staff and make the most use of our time overall. I am hopeful we will create more diverse, personalized, and interesting content for this semester. I can’t wait to see what all the staff will come up with!
So until next time, stay safe bobcats, and look out for more content from the HCOU team! :)
Best,
Lauren Serge, HCOU President & Editor-in-Chief