It was July 7, 2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic was still creeping across the world when Brown’s class of 2024 received the news that their first semester at Brown would be virtual.
According to Executive Vice President for Policy and Planning Russell Carey, admissions decisions hadn’t even been finalized when the pandemic first hit. “The solution to the rapidly unfolding situation didn’t have a template,” he said.
The trimester system that the administration designed was based on the best science and public health data available, with a focus on de-densifying the campus, according to University communications. For incoming first-years to have as much of a residential experience as possible, it soon became clear that “students would have to be spread out on campus over at least 12 months,” Carey told The Herald.
Under the trimester system, first-year students would not come to campus in the fall and have the option to take one course remotely for no cost. After a January move-in, first-years would spend the spring and summer semesters on campus.
The students responded with dual emotions of intense disappointment and fluttering hope. Ifenna Amaefuna ’24 admitted that he asked himself “why I’m going to the one quirky school” with a delayed first semester. But acceptance of an extended break replaced his initial concern, and he signed up for his very first class at Brown: NEUR 0010: The Brain: Intro to Neuroscience.
For Ethan Zucker ’24, sharp initial disappointment gave way to excitement about spring and summer fully on campus. “The delay, while it was weird and strange, made me hopeful that I could get more of my college experience (after being) vaccinated,” he said.
A ‘melancholy, solitary’ season of firsts
Cecile Schreidah ’24 spent the fall engaging with her virtual class about the history of medicine, working her job as a barista and forging her first connections at Brown through a 1500-person GroupMe for the incoming class. “Everyone was ranting (about the situation) in our class GroupMe,” Schreidah told the Herald with a laugh. “It honestly helped us all get through it.”
The large class group chat broke into a number of smaller chats, according to Schreidah. One of the first things she did when she first arrived on campus was meet her friends from a pre-med GroupMe chat in person.
Marina Benson ’24 spent that fall hiking in the Pacific Northwest and preparing to study music with an introductory music theory class. She worked and took classes at the local community college as she prepared for a spring semester in Providence.
Moving to college was her first visit to Brown, Benson said. While the initial quarantine period was difficult — leaving her feeling “melancholy and solitary” about her first semester at college — she did enjoy the activities fair. “The theater Zoom was popping!”
A universal shudder passed through interviewees at the mention of the imposed “quiet period.” Zucker’s “Hispanophone” Zoom and group chat friends remained in touch when they all arrived on campus, but in-person interactions while following the rules were “severely limited,” he said.
According to Zucker, it was very difficult to feel integrated in the community because Zoom connections were not “socially nourishing.” He lived alone in Perkins Hall and found his first January at Brown trapped in his dorm.
As a vegetarian, Benson found herself “sick of soy curls'' with the grab-and-go format of the dining halls. Other options, however, were scarce. Schreidah found it nearly impossible to explore the vibrant Providence restaurant scene with the stringent social requirements. “I got reported for walking to Thayer by myself with a mask on” while purchasing boba, she said.
The new freshmen were confined to “pods” of four to five other first-years with whom social interactions were permitted. Winter found the class of 2024 in an “uncomfortable” heavily restricted environment where anyone could report those who broke the rules and health was still a concern, Schreidah remembered. She remained buoyed by the thrill of finally being on campus and the hope that “this would all be temporary.”
First-years turned to eccentric activities to pass the winter and spring. “I had a trampoline in my room,” Zucker said. “My mom recommended it for exercise, so I would be trampolining in my room and listening to music.”
Amaefuna also found relief in music, which helped him meet one of his best friends at Brown. “Two or three days after I moved in, I was practicing my violin, and my neighbor Peter Sage ’24 came and knocked on my door, because he's very social. He just introduced himself and the rest is history,” Amaefuna said.
Amaefuna also recalled a particularly large snowstorm, which was when “everyone started coming outside.” He went sledding with Sage and Gustav Hall ’24, who remained close friends throughout his time at Brown.
Benson also found music to be a means of connection. She reminisced about jamming out to Taylor Swift songs with roommates and her keyboard. Engaging with music and theater in the spring helped her form some of her closest friendships at Brown, Benson said.
Amaefuna lived in Slater Hall, where he reported a “dismal vibe.” But the shared difficulties brought the class much closer together, he believes.
Zucker has “fond memories” of late-night chats with floormates in Perkins. “Perkins (that winter) was very isolated,” he said. “So you get very close with the people who live there.”
“One thing the pandemic taught everyone is that we’re not meant to be isolated,” Benson said. Even in the most stifling circumstances, connections bloomed.
Testing, testing and more testing
The rapid pivot to online learning and the focus on bringing everyone back to campus was “aided by science, the Chancellor and the ability to do frequent testing,” according to Carey. He considers Brown fortunate to have had the privilege of cutting-edge public health research and resources being available directly on campus.
“We had the ability to do frequent testing. And that's what I think, especially that year and in the following year, enabled safe, in-person on-campus activity,” Carey said. He celebrated the students and their attitudes in facilitating progress by following mandates.
In addition to limited class time, “there was no intercollegiate athletics,” he added. “It was a very different experience. Under the circumstances, we tried to make things as close to normal as they could be.”
The solivagant spring included a lot of COVID testing. Amaefuna recalled “trekking from Slater on the Main Green” all the way to the testing center at the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center — a necessary but “cumbersome” part of each week at school.
Schreidah was obligated to quarantine in an apartment on Thayer Street normally reserved for visiting scholars after contracting COVID-19, she said. Once her symptoms were manageable, she “explored Providence by walking four to five miles” during each of the ten days she remained in quarantine.
The ability to test allowed interactions to feel safe, Zucker said. “It was a schlep, but it was worth it. I think it helped keep cases low.”
Emerging from quiet period: A summer of exploration
After a stifling first academic semester, the University’s first-years were bursting to see the city in the summer.
Benson described the summer as an “amazing” time of exploration. “It's one of the reasons why I think the senior class is so tight now. Everyone knows each other, at least through mutual friends,” she said.
She took a seven-person jazz class that met daily. It contained two of her closest friends at Brown and members of her future band.
Schreidah recalled picnics, drives to Newport and visits to New York City. “The summer was my favorite semester at Brown,” she said. Campus was populated overwhelmingly by first-years and she reminisced about how “walking into the dining hall (and) knowing that anyone you saw was a freshman” was a wonderful way to make new friends. Schreidah took Zoom classes at the beach and embraced the excitement of a summer of exploration.
“Brown’s facilities are not built to hold people in the summer,” Zucker said drily. The extreme heat and lack of air conditioning drove everyone outside — but that made it an “amazing summer, meeting all these new people.”
For Amaefuna, the summer was a reminder of what drew him to Providence in the first place. “We went through that whole year, together,” he said. “This is Brown — everyone’s incredibly collaborative and very nice.”
Carey believes that “students played a critical role in protecting the health and safety of others. And that is something I think people should acknowledge and be very proud of.”
Ranjana “Jaanu” Ramesh is a Bruno Brief-er, photographer and Senior Staff Writer covering science & research. She loves service, empathetic medicine and working with kids. When not writing or studying comp neuro, Jaanu is outside, reading, skiing, or observing Providence wildlife (ie: squirrels).
