Lynette Carlson watched  campus go empty when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. She felt as though the campus had lost its soul.

“I just sat here and thought, ‘What is a university?’ We have all these buildings, but buildings aren’t universities. It’s people and connection,” said Carlson . 

This past year and a half has been an unexpected journey that many did not in their future. The pandemic abruptly changed lives as students were moved off campus and switched to a life virtually. 

We are now entering into our new normal as campuses nationwide welcome their students and faculty back. But many won’t forget this experience as they saw their campuses become empty.

Lynette Carlson, a professor in Communication Sciences and Disorders here at ,UMD, had to completely redesign her courses for this new environment. She saw that her students struggled to learn online and she faced a lot of worry wondering if her students were doing okay.

“It was a complete rebuild,” said Carlson. “I spent all of spring break of 2020 working 18 to 20 hour days.”

Amy Hietapelto, interim executive vice chancellor of academic affairs, during the pandemic, sat in meetings with experts deciding what would make a safe campus. 

“There were just thousands of decisions that you make on a daily basis. You had to shift to a future we didn’t imagine,” Hietapelto said. 

She is still working to make it feel as close to normal as possible, while also following safety protocols. Hietapelto explained that having a high vaccination rate, 96% system wide, has allowed for things to be closer to normal. 

Many campuses saw a drop in undergraduate enrollment. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, “Undergraduate students accounted for all of the decline, with a 4.9% drop or 727,000 students.” 

Between the fall of 2019 to fall of 2020, The University of Minnesota Duluth saw a decline with undergraduate enrollment being down 5%.

Mary Keenan, associate vice chancellor of enrollment management at UMD, oversaw all the numbers prior to  when the university officially announced its plan for fall of 2020 — this is when UMD saw the biggest drop.

The university announced they were delaying move in for two weeks, going virtual after Thanksgiving and also having 98% of the classes being held virtually. 

Cindy Hansen, a freshman and theater major, wouldn't have come if she was going to face the challenges that many faced last year.

“I would have deferred for a year. It’s hard to be performance based through a screen, especially when you’re doing activities and exercises. It’s hard to stay in the moment, when you’re not in a space with twenty other people. It’s completely different,” said Hansen.

Though she’s getting a more normal college experience than others did last year, she didn’t get the normal high school experience. 

“I missed out on a lot of the senior things, and trips, just experiences and concerts,” Hansen said. “It was so isolating, and frustrating. Everyday was so repetitive.” 

Students are back on campus and in-person, and UMD has found its soul again.