School Began Yesterday at ULM, NSU, ULL, McNeese and Southeastern

I remember watching my two older sons as they drove off to college for the first time. It's a bittersweet ache that you feel. So glad that these youngsters are spreading their wings and taking their education to the next level, but it almost kills you to see them pull out of the driveway knowing your life will probably never again be the same.

Now just imagine that you are one of the parents sending their kids off to college amidst this crazy COVID pandemic. The anxiety has got to be at all time highs, but we cannot allow fear to rule the day. We take all the recommended precautions and pray the only medical issue that teenager will experience will be a bad hangover.

Classes resumed yesterday at the University of Louisiana Monroe, Northwestern State University, McNeese, University of Louisiana Lafayette and Southeastern Louisiana University.

In a report from Louisiana Radio Network we find UL System President Jim Henderson says he feels comfortable they have put the best-informed plans together, adding that faculty and staff are doing their best to execute those plans.

“There are so many unknowns and that’s the part that keeps you awake at night and wondering if you have planned for every possible eventuality. I believe that we have,” said Henderson.

Henderson goes on to say that the system has done the best they can with their spread mitigation efforts but it's still important that students fully understand the risks involved with social behaviors.

“They are not engaging in that behavior because they are at college, they are engaging in that behavior because it is just a factor of that age population,” said Henderson.

He added that Nicholls and Grambling started classes last week and the initial reports are good, but he reminds us, “So far things are going very well at both of those campuses, but this is not a short-term conversation. Ask me again in eight weeks how they are doing and we are going to continue to remind students that this is your responsibility.”