Photo Essay of The Pandemic: COVID-19

By Sam McCauley ’20 (Digital Media Production)   This is a sticker that was left on a bulletin board on the New Paltz college campus months before COVID-19 reached the United States. May 6, 2020, New Paltz These are the benches in front of Peregrine Dining Hall, where students would hang out in between & …

Sweet Distractions

By Sacha Fleming ’20 (Adolescence Education: Social Studies) Social distancing has been an interesting time and people are in a state of confusion. Everyone belongs to many distinct communities and/or groups defined by shared philosophy, culture and regional spaces. I would consider myself unconventional, a rebel and an activist. I guess you could call me …

Three-Hundred-Eleven Words

By Jeffery Battersby ‘24g (Creative Writing) I put some poetry down today, for the first time since your mother’s call Fifty-seven words of prose to set me straight   ​I copied two old poems into the notebook that you gave ​Bright red with Steppenwolf emblazoned on its face ​It holds a baker’s dozen now ​Thirteen …

When Everything Changes

By Gabriela Martins ’21 (Business) In a timespan of just two weeks everything happened so fast! I was supposed to travel with my roommate for spring break, and the day of our travels was the same day that Governor Cuomo announced that the semester would go online. It was also the same day that President Trump …

Choosing to Stay in the United States

By Ruby Do ’20 (Visual Arts) My personal experience this spring due to COVID-19 really changed my experience as an international student studying in America. I had to decide between going home only two months before graduation or staying in America to see what would happen after I graduate. I don’t know what will happen, but …

I Left My Heart in the Hudson Valley

By Nawreen Juthi ’20 (Marketing) Student manager, Welcome Center Mentor, School of Business On March 13, my friend and I drove the two hours from New Paltz to Brooklyn. We talked about what break would be like now that the Governor announced college classes would transition to e-learning. Would we come back to campus after …

No Laughing Matter

By Ashley Rose ’21g (English) At first, it wasn’t even a concern. Every year, there’s always some new illness, right? What made COVID-19 any different? So people made memes and laughed at it. Then people started dying. “Eh, it’s in China, it can’t get us here,” they said. Laugh, click share, And then it reached the …