Cori Shearing, a cybersecurity major at Hilbert College, passed away unexpectedly on April 14, 2020.

Everyone at Hilbert College can agree on one thing:  Cori was a fun, loving and outgoing person, who was never afraid to be herself.  Cori touched so many people in the short time she was with us, and we all miss her dearly.

I first met Cori during my freshman year of college. I remember the first time she sat behind me in class and introduced herself. She talked about longboarding and some of her other interests. The minute I heard her speak, I wanted to get to know her better. The way she talked and carried herself made her different from everyone else, in the best way possible.

My sophomore year of college, my roommates and I were looking for another roommate to fill our suite. One of my roommates, Claudia Wrate, a forensics major at Hilbert College, was very close with Cori and immediately thought of her. We began talking with Cori about dorming with us, and although it never happened, it helped bring all of us closer.

Cori always had a smile on her face and it was completely genuine. “Cori just always wanted to make the world a better place and everyone around her happy”, Wrate said.  “She was very interested in cyber security and wanted to help people that way”.

Former Hilbert student, Reta Savory, also met Cori freshman year. The first night Savory met Cori, it made a lasting impression on her. “Hanging out with Cori that first night was enlightening for me because I learned about myself as a person and how to be a friend to someone from a different world than me” Savory said. “She taught me that life is hard but you smile through it and that’s all you can do”.

Cori was also very proud of her family, especially her mom. Savory and Wrate both vividly remember Cori sharing stories about her family. “Cori was proud of her family for sure” Wrate said. “Her mother and her were very close, and she talked about her so highly”.

“I think Cori was most proud of the people in her life” Savory said. “From the moment I met her, I could see that. She loved her mom”.

Hilbert College is an institution known for three major factors: the Criminal Justice Program that helps to teach the next generation of Police, Security and Federal Officers;. the Forensic Science program; the small student to faculty ratio that creates an engaging and person experience allowing the student to feel like an individual not like a number. 

Unlike some colleges that have giant class sizes where the professor does not know your name, at Hilbert the faculty cares about each and every student, and how to make the learning easier for that student in particular. 

While Hilbert is known for its Criminal Justice and Forensic Science Program there is other majors on campus beside these which are the obvious ones, one of the great major programs on campus in the Political Science program.  Political Science is the study of how people form together to change the situations in which they live to make those situations equitable and how those systems fight against or work with these movements of people. 

While not as popular as the Criminal Justice major, the study of Political Science should matter to students studying Crimal Justice.  

“CJ and other disciplines are inter-related , so how people are treated  is a political question,” Dr. Andrew Kolin said. 

Politics effect each and every one of us in some way matter shape or form, it is what creates each and every situation in the world, he added.  

“If one is to understand decision making and ‘who gets what?  Political science is essential’ meaning that while things may seem dismal and dark there is ways to change the matter of who gets what,’” Kolin said. 

Kolin, is an academic who has taught and studied Political Science for many decades and takes a lot of pride in giving his students as much detail as possible, allowing them to strive and succeed. 

John Brandle, a Political science major at Hilbert College, said he is a political science major because he wants to help solve problems.

“I chose to study political science because I wanted to help my community,” Brandle said. “I thought that pursuing a degree in the field would help educate me on the ins and outs of our society and how we function both on a legal and political level. My personal end goal is to get involved in the field of politics, and try to make a change through that.” 

That is what many Political Science majors want to accomplish is to better the world they live in. However, to gain that perspective one doesn’t have to be a Political Science Major. They can merely take a course or two as part of an elective.

Brandle said he believes that Political Science matters on campus.

“I think political science should matter because we are becoming more and more of a society that refuses to look at our flaws,”Brandle said. “In doing so we also forget the accomplishments we have made fixing those flaws.”

Midterm week is stressor for many college students, and the impact it can make on ones semester can be massive. Oftentimes, these mid-term exams account for 20 to 30 percent of a student’s final grade.

David Gullo, a sophomore here at Hilbert College, said most professors on campus do a good job of warning and preparing you, which is necessary as the first six weeks of the semester tend to fly by.

“We’ve only been in class for a couple weeks it feels like,” Gullo said when interviewed prior to the exams. “My professors have been stressing that we need to prepare for these exams, as it can put us (students) on track to succeed this semester.”

But, midterms can also put a student in a huge hole for the rest of the semester. Preparing for potentially four to six of these exams after being in class for just over a month can sometimes overwhelm and cause major stress and anxiety for students.

On top of the fact that these students are stressing about the exams they are taking, the adjustments to protocols in place for the pandemic have made for a difficult semester. Although school work has to be a main priority in order for a student to succeed, these are topics that can certainly not be ignored. Stephen Houghton, another sophomore here at Hilbert, spoke of his experience what it is like to attend college during the crazy events of 2020.

“With everything going on with the pandemic and trying to stay up to date on what’s going on in the election, sometimes it is hard to keep focus and give the attention I need to school work,” Houghton said.

He also said that this sometimes leads to major anxiety for him. Anyone that has ever dealt with anxiety knows that it is extremely difficult to be productive while experiencing it.

“Even getting a little bit behind on my work causes major anxiety for me,” Houghton said. “When that happens, unless someone is there who knows how to calm me down, it is a wasted night of studying for me.” 

During midterms a wasted night may be detrimental to a student’s chances on a mid-term exam.

Thomas Wolstencroft, a career guidance counselor who is speacializes in dealing with students that struggle with stress and anxiety at Gannon University and Mercyhurst University in Erie, PA, on how students deal with stress and how they can overcome it.

“Every student is different” Wolstencroft said. “There is no one solution in overcoming your problems dealing with anxiety. But there are some things worth trying that in many cases do help people a great deal”.

A few things he suggested for helping to deal with or avoid the stress altogether were to reward yourself after the completion of a homework or studying session, get enough sleep and eat healthy, as the better you feel, the more likely it is your work will get done, and most importantly keep an agenda. He said it is an absolute must for college students to keep a planner or agenda and write all big tests and due dates in it.

Coming from high school, everything is very structured and lined up for you to succeed. In college, this is not the case at all. If you have all of your assignments written down and accessible, you are much more likely to complete them, according to a study done Educational Leadership. 

Wolstencroft also said that the key is not to deal with the anxiety when it occurs, but to try and avoid it from happening all together.

“If you can minimize the anxiety from your school work, suddenly things such as the pandemic and the election seem more manageable as you have hopefully already taken care of that huge stressor,” he said.

As COVID-19 cases start to increase again, it’s apparent that a second shutdown is likely.

Most of Erie Country has been split up into yellow, orange and red zones, which identify the severity of cases in that town.  Almost all of Erie County has turned orange, leaving just a few towns in the yellow zone. 

Sophie Loschiavo, a freshman at Daemen College who started her first year mostly online, said she has not been able to get the fullest experience of college.  She now is fully remote as all the other schools and colleges are and is frustrated about the start of a second shutdown.

“I can’t believe we are about to go into lockdown again” Loschiavo said, “I really hope this doesn’t last as long as the last one.”

Daemen College sophomore Gianna Baia said she has felt outrage and sadness of the start of the second shutdown.

“I wish people would just stay home and follow the procedures put in place so we could all have things go back to normal,” Baia said. “I hope Erie County or towns in Erie County don’t turn red.” 

Baia had high hopes that if people stay home that the world will return to normal again and that she will be able to go back to playing soccer and her job, being a hostess at a local restaurant. 

Its clear that many people don’t like the second shutdown, but it is clearly needed with rising COVID-19 cases in New York State.  Baia stated,

“Hopefully 2021 is a better year,” Baia said.

Quarantine has become a main process for preventing the spread of covid-19 for many colleges, with remote learning options put in place at most schools across the United States.

For some students have quarantine guidelines and remote learning have been in place since the pandemic started. Most colleges, including SUNY schools, are transitioned to remote learning after the Thanksgiving break. Schools established protocols in an effort to stay open until the start of Thanksgiving break, but many, including Hilbert College, were able to make it that far with cases rising across Western New York.

These precautions include limiting class sizes, wearing masks and sanitizing.  Colleges also prepared for outbreaks of covid-19, by designating certain locations on campus for students who need to quarantine.

Last month the Chancellor of SUNY schools Jim Malatras stated annouced widespread testing requirements for the state school system.

“All students who are living on campus, taking at least one in-person course, or utilizing campus facilities must test negative for COVID-19 before leaving campus at Thanksgiving break,” Malatras said.

This test was required to be taken 10 days before students left for break. Students who test positive were mandated to quarantine for 14 days, ultimately making them stay on campus for thanksgiving break instead of going home.

Since some classes are strictly online, some students did not step foot on campus this semester, making them exempt from testing.

Buffalo State College Junior Keke Scott, who takes online courses and lives off campus, said she has not been impacted by this new policy.

Scott stated she felt bad for students who may possibly have to quarantine.

“I don’t have to worry about having to miss thanksgiving with my family, since I have my own place, she said.”

Another student at Buffalo State College, Bryanna Wilson, said she didn’t feel like students’ feelings were taken into consideration when the decisions were made.

“I understand the Chancellor means well, but I just wish they would ask for students’ opinions first before making a decision about us,” Wilson said.  

Since the pandemic has started institutions have been forced to make drastic decisions. Niah Price, a Junior and student athlete at Buffalo State, said she is fed up with this school year. Not only did the cost of tuition increase but her softball season was cancelled. Schools have taken away traditional breaks and now she had to miss celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday with her family.

Overall, students from SUNY schools believe this new protocol is unfair and their opinions and thoughts should have been taken into consideration.

Private schools such as Hilbert College have not made testing mandatory for students. If Hilbert were to make testing mandatory before the Thanksgiving break, students would likely have the same reaction and thoughts as SUNY student, Malik Abdus-Sabr, a Hilbert student, said

“I believe we have been put through a lot this semester and school year as a whole, and to make students stay on campus to quarantine instead of going home is unfair,” Abdus-Sabr said.

Hilbert College students, staff and faculty have been living through the many different changes the campus has had to make since COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, surfaced.

From wearing masks all throughout the school day to hybrid classes, and a heavy load of online schoolwork, this is not the typical day students are used to at Hilbert College.

Sanitization has been one of the biggest changes in the life of Hilbert College students and staff, with precautions being taken to keep people safe during this pandemic. Specifically, Hilbert College is sanitizing every desk and chair before and after classes. Hand sanitizer stations are located all around campus, and it is required for students to take part in the precautions and sanitization at hand.

Maintenance at Hilbert has gone out of their way to put sanitization pads on all door handles. This is for self-sanitization to keep all students and staff safe during such a time of panic.

Vincent Cascio, a junior Forensic Science major, said he felt safe at school.

“No, all the precautions that are being taken are the best that could be done,” Cascio said. “In my opinion, it may be a little overboard.”

Junior Katilina Cordova, a criminal justice major, said she too feels like the school has done a good job in preventing outbreaks on campus this semester.

“There’s not much more to be done besides wearing a mask, social distancing, sanitizing, etcetera,” Cordova said. “I think the precautions are the best they can be at the moment.”

With vaccines unlikely to be widely available until spring at the earliest, it is likely that most of these protocols will remain in place for the spring semester, when the college plans to welcome students back with in-person instruction again.

Erin Warford, an assistant professor of history at Hilbert College, said she thinks the measures are working.

“I think the way things have been going speaks for itself,” she said, pointing to the low number of cases for the fall semester.

“It hasn’t gotten bad enough to take drastic measures, so the precautions are pretty adequate,” she added.

Last March the lives of Americans changed drastically as the coronavirus pandemic took hold.

Everyday routines were turned completely upside down, including jobs, shopping, even spending time outside. But education, in particular, saw significant disruptions. Most schools around the country were forced to change the way students attended classes, changing and adding rules and regulations that students are not accustomed to, such as wearing a mask when on campus, logging into zoom classes on time, and disinfecting everything in class rooms and campuses.

Hilbert College is no exception.

Alesia Hamm is taking all classes in person and said that it is much easier and more efficient when it comes to understanding her material. She believes that human interaction and face to face learning is crucial, especially during these stressful times.

However, having online options has helped Hamm keep up on her schoolwork, she said.

“Due to having an online option for classes and office hours, I am able to keep my grades up more compared to last year,” she said.

Sarah Kobler takes a few classes online and the rest are in person, even though she, and most other students, are not too fond of remote learning. She believes that grades and mental health are both impacted when not being face to face for classes.

When it comes to being at home, and maybe even in your own bedroom, it is easy to get distracted and maybe miss an important part of your class. “Sometimes I notice my classmates walking away from their computer screens for long periods of time,” Kobler said.

Professor Megan Witzleben, who teaches English at Hilbert, only taught one online class over the summer, but agrees that in-person classes are much easier to teach and feels her students learn more efficiently.   

“Preparation for teaching (online) becomes much more complicated and time consuming,” she said. “I am unable to know how well the students are retaining the information I teach, especially if I have to present a pre-recorded video or PowerPoint.”

It is harder for teachers to keep track of attendance when teaching through a computer screen and to know if a student is falling behind, Witleben added.

“It seems that students usually only pay attention over zoom when it is a one on one meeting.” she said.

However, the students and professor have said that one positive thing about online schooling is not having to take time away from extracurricular activities or hobbies.

“Because of the restrictions of staying on campus for events and other activities, I have more time to play basketball outside of school,” Hamm said.

Another positive attribution of online class is the increase in grades, Hamm and Kobler agreed. This is most likely due to being able to review courses and classes as much as needed, versus a once over in an in-person class.  

And for some students, the independence and free time available in quarantine can be beneficial in some ways, Hamm said.

“Because I have the extra time to do more of what I really enjoy, such as basketball and enjoying being outside,” she said. “I feel my mental health is much better.”

Still, remote learning can be difficult psychologically. When students and teachers spend more time at home and most of their days on a computer, their mental health and even physical health may be affected.

Witzleban said that she and anyone with children need a strong support system. Without this support, it can be easy to get stuck in a rut both physically and mentally.  

“Being stuck inside all day everyday has a negative impact on mental health,” she said. “Especially since I have young children at home.”