I was walking down the hall in my dorm. I went to go see one of my friends after he and his girlfriend went to a Thunder game, only to find people packing up his belongings to send home with him.
Someone tested positive for COVID at the game so the university wouldn’t allow him or his girlfriend to return to campus. Before I knew it, all OBU students were instructed to not return from Spring Break but instead finish the semester online from home.
One moment my biggest worry was passing my New Testament and Audio Production classes, then the next my freshman year was essentially over with no plan for getting us back on campus.
I had no way of knowing at the time this would be the beginning to three years without a sense of normalcy while trying to make the most out of my time in college.
The next year was spent social distancing and wearing masks until spring rolled around again. In February 2021, a major snow and ice storm hit Shawnee causing most of the city to lose access to water. Once again, all students were sent home for a month then returned to campus just to struggle through classes for the rest of the semester.
Junior year and the first half of my senior year flew by without any school-ending natural disasters, until springtime. A tornado moved through Shawnee and over OBU, damaging several buildings and vehicles, including my own dorm building and car. The next day, everyone was sent home while volunteers began relief efforts around campus. Fortunately, we were able to return and finish the year in person, but were not able to have graduation on campus.
The time I spent on campus made OBU a second home to me, which is why having to leave unexpectedly nearly every year was so difficult. While these times will be ones I don’t forget, they by no means define my time spent in school.
I often got caught up in the frustration many students felt, but some of my favorite memories are the unconventional and slightly unsafe ways my friends and I found to have fun like turning a bathroom into a sauna and riding mattresses down flights of stairs.
It was easy to fret about not having a “normal” time in college but I think these circumstances taught me that normal is just a synonym for boring.