Students are excited to get back on campus and learn in the traditional way. Since February of 2020, the campus has been closed to students for everything besides mandatory labs. 

Finally, after a year and a half of online learning, Lake Land is finally able to open its doors and students are very glad to be back. 

Some of the classes offered at Lake Land were very difficult to learn online as Laker Annie Toberman said, “I would not be able to do my labs online or any science classes. I feel online I don’t learn or retain the information as well as I do in person.”

However, online classes were the only option for nearly all Lake Land students. As Toberman stated above, she was unable to do her labs online. Mandatory science labs were some of the only on campus meetings.

Another Laker, Lexi Rochkes, notes the difficulty of keeping on top of work in an online setting, “It was hard keeping myself motivated.” 

On Campus, there are also sitting areas and multiple places for students to work. The Education building, or North East offers a small smart board lab for students to use and do a mock lesson for other students or to just get themselves comfortable. These things were all closed to students, making it hard for the education students as they also couldn’t go to actual schools, which is required for their major.

Most of the faces seen on campus now are new. Sophomores and Freshman alike have not received the full college experience.

Olivia Durbin, a Sophomore who had to complete her first year of college online, summarizes this feeling perfectly, “I didn’t get to start my college experience on campus so I feel as if I am a freshman myself sometimes.” 

Durbin also spoke about how online learning truly dampens the fantasy of college as she said “I love seeing people and being able to have an actual conversation.” 

Not only is Lake Land a great place for social interaction, but it also offers many different majors and subjects that are a much better experience in person.

Abby Woodall, one of the students in the nursing program, describes the classes Lake Land offers as affordable and the education you can receive is comparable to that of a four year university. This is just one of the many appeals of Lake Land.

Lakers can happily blow the past year of online schooling a kiss goodbye (through a mask and from a safe distance, of course) and finally get to experience college the way it was intended. Even though there are still some restrictions, both students and teachers alike are glad to be back.