SALT LAKE CITY — Kristin Jamieson and Dan Robrecht confessed they were a jumble of emotions as they helped their daughter Rose move into her dorm room at the University of Utah on Thursday.
“We’re really excited about the opportunities, for her housing and for her upcoming experiences with her roommate she’s known since high school,” Jamieson said.
Robrecht added, “It’s definitely a range of emotions from serious to excitement to some jealousy.” A few tears were shed, too, Jamieson said.
If that weren’t enough to process, Jamieson and Robrecht have an added layer of concern about COVID-19, which already disrupted Rose’s senior year of high school and has necessitated atypical protocols on the university campus such mask-wearing, social distancing and undergoing COVID-19 testing before students receive their room keys.
“My biggest fear is just seeing places like Notre Dame and UNC that have shut down (in-person learning) after a week. I’m encouraged by what I see here. It seems like they’re really making an effort to do what they can to keep things as safe as possible,” Robrecht said.
After a senior year of high school disrupted by the pandemic, Rose Robrecht said she was excited to be on a college campus and take the next steps in her education. She will major in mathematics and computer science.
The class of 2020 may have been deprived of typical senior year experiences, but Rose Robrecht said she appreciates high school seniors were not alone in sacrifices made due to the pandemic. If anything, she feels better prepared to be a self-directed learner and she has the confidence of knowing she can do hard things.
“I feel like we’re going to come out of this really resilient and we can handle anything life throws at us. I think that’s going to be more valuable in the end,” she said.
Robrecht is from Ogden so her parents have the decided advantage of having to travel just an hour if they have to move their daughter home prematurely due to a COVID-19 outbreak. All are crossing their fingers that won’t happen.
Elsewhere in the U.’ s Kahlert Village, the university’s newest residential community, roommates Haley Parsons and Victoria Medvedeva would face far more complications if the school year came to a sudden halt. Parsons is from San Diego and Medvedeva is from Idaho Falls.
Even after watching some colleges in other states suddenly pivot to all online learning due to campus coronavirus outbreaks, neither said they packed lightly.
“I think I packed the same amount I would have, of course bringing masks,” said Parsons, who is majoring in ballet and psychology.
Parsons said she’s concerned about COVID-19 disrupting college life, but her greater worry was that she would be unable to attend college in person.
“From having that ending (to high school), I really wanted to continue with my life,” she said.
Medvedeva, who is majoring in biochemistry with an eye on attending dental school, said she had some reservations about moving on campus, but as she has learned more about safety protocols “it feels pretty safe to me.”
She said she packed a week’s worth of masks and will likely pick up a few more as the semester progresses.
She said her parents are prepared to pick her up if need be, “but we’re hoping that doesn’t need to happen. It would just be heartbreaking to have to go home so fast.”
Medvedeva said move-in day had been long, leaving Idaho Falls at 5 a.m., arriving in Salt Lake City about three hours later, doing a little grocery shopping and then undergoing COVID-19 testing, which consisted of throat and nasal swabs. And then, with the help of parents, she moved into her dorm.
“So yeah, it’s been a very long day,” she said.
Still, Medvedeva said she’s excited about her freshman year but has some concerns about the jump in rigor from high school to college work. Her lone in-person class is an organic chemistry lab.
“That would be difficult to do online,” she said. “I think I’ll be OK.”
Mostly, Medvedeva said she’s looking forward to experiencing life on a college campus.
“I’ve been looking forward to going to college and living on my own for a really long time. The circumstances are not the best but it’s going to be fun,” she said.