With the fall 2020 semester halfway complete, students are in the swing of their routines.

From arriving to campus, sitting in their lecture halls, or meeting a fellow Hawk for coffee, things look different this semester at Hilbert. As many new precautions have been put in place to keep students, faculty, and staff safe, some students feel that some of these precautions are beneficial and others are trying to find a balance.

Sisters Haley and Toriann Wipperman,have different views on the way that things are going when asked about the sanitation in classrooms

Sophomore Toriann Wipperman said she is still adjusting to the new protocols.

“I’m somewhere in the middle,” Toriann Wipperman said. “It’s like decent. The one classroom I was in ran out of wipes to wipe down the desks and we kept asking for them to get refilled and it took a few days. It took a while.”

Based off the CDC’s recommendation, a face covering over both the nose and mouth should be worn in public spaces when a six-foot distance cannot be met. According to Toriann, everyone wears a mask properly throughout the duration of her in-person classes on campus. Professor Don Vincent said that the classrooms are sanitized well and students consistently wear their masks properly throughout the duration of his lectures.

Some colleges decided to pull the plug months ago on both in-person classes and re-opening dorm halls for the fall 2020 semester. However, Hilbert made the decision to have students live in dorms and continue with in person instruction.

Toriann Wipperman said she understands why it is difficult for schools to decide whether to continue with in person classes, but that she feels they should have went completely remote when asked if she thought Hilbert administrators made the right decision.

“Thats controversial,” Toriann Wipperman said. “I’m gonna say no. It makes sense that Hilbert’s back. I just don’t think any of these schools should be. I think we should have just been in lockdown completely and just got rid of it completely, instead of trying to normalize it while the pandemic is still happening.”

Senior Haley Wipperman is currently completing all classes remotely from home, as she broke her foot in July. She feels a bit different about the topic.

“We are all college students and this is our school,” Haley Wipperman said. “It is up to us to follow the rules and keep everyone healthy. If we weren’t on campus, it would be another semester of our college experience taken away from us.”