After 18 months of empty classrooms and quiet courtyards, the Whittier College campus was full once again.
With masks secured and over 90% of students, faculty, and staff fully vaccinated, the College is committed to providing safe, healthy in-person instruction for the 2021-2022 academic year. On Tuesday, as classes commenced for the fall semester, veteran and incoming Poets alike took the first step into a new kind of Whittier College experience.
Students, faculty, and staff are immediately beginning to adjust to some notable changes. The fall 2021 semester is marked by new health and safety measures including mask-wearing, daily health screenings, and other protocols to keep the entire community safe from COVID-19.
But despite these adjustments, much of the Poet experience will remain the same. All the things that make Whittier College unique—the strong sense of community; the small, tight-knit classes; the warmth of old friends, faculty, and staff—have not been lost. And yesterday, as returning students took their seats at familiar desks, and looked out familiar windows, they were met by the same sky-scraping palm trees and rolling Whittier hills that they left behind in the Spring of 2020.
As we join together in person after a year and a half of difficulty and hardship, the fall 2021 semester may not look completely “normal” yet—however, it is already charged with a greater sense of community, support, and gratitude than the College has ever experienced before.
To learn more about how we can work together to create a safe and healthy environment for our students, faculty, and staff, check out the Moving Forward section of the website.
