{"id":1037,"date":"2022-01-13T21:14:43","date_gmt":"2022-01-13T21:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/?post_type=stories&p=1037"},"modified":"2022-01-13T21:14:43","modified_gmt":"2022-01-13T21:14:43","slug":"together-again","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/news\/together-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Together Again"},"content":{"rendered":"
The pandemic isn\u2019t over, but Eastern is <\/span>celebrating its return to <\/span>\u2018<\/span>near normal.<\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/h6>\n

By Melodie Little<\/strong><\/p>\n

Back in March 2020, just a week after the EWU men\u2019s basketball team learned its appearance in the NCAA Tournament had been canceled, the university announced there would be a one-week extension of Eastern\u2019s typical week-long spring break.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The pause in students\u2019 return wasn\u2019t about providing extra time for cavorting in Cabo. Eastern\u2019s leadership was instead trying to \u201cflatten the transmission curve\u201d of the novel coronavirus \u2014 a\u00a0 <\/span>scary new contagion spreading rapidly across the globe.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a sensible step to keep students safe, just an extra week to ensure safety measures were in place. At the time, few would have predicted that the temporary closure would extend to an 18-month pivot to remote-only learning; a pivot that emptied dormitories, shuttered laboratories and classrooms, and created an eerie emptiness in Eastern\u2019s once bustling common spaces.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Though countless students, faculty and staff rose to meet the challenge of pandemic-related closures and disruptions (see, for example, the exemplary achievements chronicled in #Eagle Strong stories from recent issues of this magazine), the slow-motion evacuation of the Cheney and Spokane campuses was a dispiriting development for the Eastern community.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All that changed<\/strong> this fall, as Eastern welcomed students back to in-person learning and campus activities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Caleb Martinez, 18, on EWU’s Residence Hall Move-in Day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nothing symbolized this return to \u201cnear normal\u201d more than Eastern\u2019s annual move-in event, a two-day celebration of residence-hall habitation that saw close to 1,000 students hauling packed-to-the-brim storage containers and trendy dorm furnishings to their new homes-away-from-home.<\/p>\n

Among them was Rhon Miller, an 18-year-old from Aberdeen, Washington, who plans to study business. Fortuitously, Miller\u2019s move into Pearce Hall was assisted by move-in volunteer Christian Proctor, a 20-year-old junior majoring in business management and marketing. The jump-start in making campus connections wasn\u2019t lost on Miller, but he admitted he was mainly just psyched to be finally joining the ranks of live-in collegians: \u201cI wasn\u2019t sure this moment was going to happen,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m just happy to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

To ensure a safe environment for new residents like Miller and the rest of Eastern\u2019s newly arrived campus dwellers, Housing and Residential Life staff worked tirelessly to bring EWU\u2019s five dorms and two apartment complexes into compliance with EWU\u2019s Covid-19 safety protocols. Acquainting students with Eastern\u2019s requirements for vaccines, antigen testing and social distancing was chief among the safety efforts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

EWU\u2019s Move-In Days, coming as they did a couple of weeks before the campus vaccination deadline, was particularly challenging. To prevent overcrowding in outdoor walkways, indoor hallways and elevators, for example, incoming freshmen were asked to sign up for 30-minute time slots before moving into their assigned rooms.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, none of these pandemic-related necessities dampened the mood. Incoming Eagles, accompanied by proud parents, grandparents, siblings and other family members, were greeted with Swoop sightings, fresh-baked cookies and lot of smiles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In all, 25 staff and 70 student volunteers worked multiple shifts to ensure that everyone was properly situated. This volunteer team, dubbed the Movers and Shakers, helped unload vehicles and packed a mountain of possessions \u2014 including mini-refrigerators and big-screen TVs \u2014 onto hand-trucks and carts before escorting students onto elevators and up to their assigned rooms.<\/p>\n

Emily Thomas, an 18-year-old freshman from Colville, Washington, says coordinating furnishings and sleeping arrangements for the shared room in snyamncut took weeks of back-and-forth text messaging.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It was helpful that her new roommate, Thressa Coffey, also 18, is also her best friend. Coffey, who plans to pursue a career in forensic science, says she spent her senior year of high school in virtual classrooms while living at home in Spokane. Not so great, she says. Attending in-person classes and doing laboratory work in the new, state-of-the-art Interdisciplinary Science Center will be a welcome change.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels good because I don\u2019t learn as well online,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A few days later<\/strong>, from a podium in Showalter Auditorium, David May, Eastern\u2019s interim president \u2014 the campus leader who guided the university through the dark days of closures \u2014 echoed Coffey\u2019s sentiments during his annual \u201cState of the University\u201d speech. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know about you but I\u2019m really excited to be here today, and to see what we\u2019ve all been working toward for so long actually happen,\u201d May said. \u201cIt\u2019s arrived. We\u2019re back on campus in Cheney, Washington. We\u2019re back in classrooms. We\u2019re back in labs. We\u2019re back in studios, fields, courts \u2014 all of the places where learning and living take place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without a doubt, \u201cbeing back\u201d was the informal theme at Eastern\u2019s academic year kick-off event, the annual Pass Through the Pillars. The event, attended by many of the same freshman who had moved into Eastern\u2019s dormitories days earlier, involves newly arriving Eastern students \u2014 accompanied by the EWU marching band \u2014 congregating together on College Avenue before passing through the iconic Herculean Pillars of Eastern\u2019s formal entryway.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Passing through the pillars.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

EWU\u2019s Director of Alumni Relations, Kelsey Hatch-Brecek \u201921, spoke at the event, telling today\u2019s new students that, odd as it might sound, soon they\u2019d be the ones creating lifelong memories and lasting traditions at Eastern. She says she couldn\u2019t help but be inspired by the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a ton of energy,\u201d Hatch-Brecek says. \u201cWhen there\u2019s a lot of energy around me, I just get super ramped up. I think the students were just genuinely excited to be back in person. And even though we\u2019re still living with some of the pandemic protocols, it still felt so good for all of us to be together\u2026just for us to be around people again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hatch-Brecek also played a key role in another cherished tradition that had been put on hold: Eastern\u2019s annual Homecoming events. Despite persistently cool, rainy weather, the 2021 Eagle Family Homecoming brought alumni, staff, faculty and, of course, students together for several days of unfiltered fun.<\/p>\n

While traditional events surrounding the Oct. 22 football game provided the core of activities, newer happenings gave participants a peek at what a fully post-pandemic EWU might look like. The 2nd Annual Red Turf Royalty gathering, for instance, featured a full line-up of \u201cinsider\u201d activities, including a tour of the new Interdisciplinary Science Center and a catered dinner. Guest speakers included interim President May, Eagles Head Football Coach Aaron Best and Director of Athletics Lynn Hickey, who all shared their unique perspectives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, things were decidedly old-school when student-driven events stole the show. \u201cSpecial shout-out to our students,\u201d Hatch-Brecek says. \u201cThey turned out in force for the bed races and bonfire. They truly showed what it means to be an Eagle.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And, especially<\/strong> in that moment, what it means to be an Eagle on campus. As May emphasized in his speech, Eastern will never \u2014 and could never \u2014 be an \u201conline-only institution.\u201d Its purpose, he said, is too tightly bound to its place.<\/p>\n

Monroe, Senior, Patterson, Hargreaves, Showalter \u2014 these and the other hallowed halls of Eastern\u2019s historic campus are more than just monuments in brick and mortar. They\u2019re repositories of memories, spaces resonant with emotional and intellectual connections stretching across generations. For all of its timely uses, Zoom is no substitute for being on campus, for engaging with mentors and peers, and creating one\u2019s own Eastern moment in time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe, I know, that those of you who will have your first day of classes here at Eastern Washington University, will one day be able to sit down in the mall, maybe on a beautiful fall morning, and think about your long career here,\u201d said May in his September speech. \u201cWe\u2019ll get back to academic plans, we\u2019ll get back to budgets and legislative agendas; we\u2019ll circle back to strategic plans and fundraising.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut right now I think it\u2019s okay \u2014 actually I think it\u2019s necessary \u2014 to really enjoy this moment of return. To think about all of the positive things around us. We are together again, and the students are back.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014 Charles E. Reineke contributed to this story.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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