Parents of the Class of 2019

[design_mom]

I just watched the press conference from the university on our local TV station (we're about 2.5 hours away). They had people from the university, the county health department, and the state Department of Health there.

They said that the 2 students are showing symptoms of respiratory illness, but are not sick enough to require hospitalization. Both students had traveled together in China and it's the travel history that has them testing for corona virus. (They do have symptoms consistent with corona virus but the same symptoms could be caused by any number of other viruses, too.) The students have agreed to remain isolated at home till the results are back from the CDC (which could take up to a week!) and the county board of health will be supporting their needs (food etc) while they do that.

At this time, they said other students should just take normal winter-time/flu prevention precautions (hand washing, etc) and go about their business. However, if you feel sick you should stay home... and they said they are encouraging professors to be lenient with attendance policies to facilitate that. For students who have traveled to china, or have been in direct contact with someone who has been diagnosed with corona virus, they are asking them to call the student health center if they feel sick (rather than stopping in) because they have a special protocol to follow.

The basketball games have been canceled for tonight and tomorrow -- but they said that was not a request from the university, the county, the state, or the CDC. It was a decision made by "the conference" and the opposing team to request a postponement.

 

[design_mom]

Coronavirus results are finally back for the 2 cases at DS’s university. Negative! Hooray!

 

[Lynne G]

DesignMom, that is wonderful news.

My DD is also sick, with respiratory cold. She needed her momma this weekend, so we picked her up on Saturday morning and took her back at dinner time today. She slept most of Saturday, and did not get moving until after lunch today. Nose spray and cold medicine given to her, and a box of tissues. She also has an ear infection, that when she called the doctor about on Thursday, was told was more concerned about her cold and if running a fever, or if congestion did not get better in a few days, to give a call. At least she is not running a fever, and ear does feel better, so hoping the infection went away, and the weekend rest helped in fighting the cold. With lots of kids at her university, guess it was only time before she caught a cold.

Hope all those college kids not feeling well get better soon.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

Spoke with DD on Thursday, and she's crunched the numbers, and talked with the adviser's office at school, and it looks like she can graduate in 2 years, then do the school's 5 year master's program and have her master's in 3 years. She'll be a semester ahead, so I told her to not kill herself with classes and take a few that she wants to take rather than just the ones she has to take to fill out that extra semester's worth of school.

She sounds pretty excited about it, now she needs to look for research opportunities and internships!

 

[PollyannaMom]

DS is sick again. Not ER-level sick this time, but he barely felt caught up from last time, and he's freaking out about getting even more behind in his work. We're popping up for an overnight tomorrow - taking him back to the hotel with us for a good night's sleep and some TLC.

 

[design_mom]

Ugh... I'm sorry your DS is sick again. It definitely stinks when they're sick and you're far away. I'm glad you're able to go see him and give him some TLC.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

DS is sick again. Not ER-level sick this time, but he barely felt caught up from last time, and he's freaking out about getting even more behind in his work. We're popping up for an overnight tomorrow - taking him back to the hotel with us for a good night's sleep and some TLC.

DD is sick again as well. She's getting better, but last week she was flat out for a couple of days because she felt so bad. I think the back and forth from Colorado to Massachusetts with all the different sets of germs over the holidays got to her. Hopefully she stays healthy the rest of the semester!

 

[mom2rtk]

DS is sick again. Not ER-level sick this time, but he barely felt caught up from last time, and he's freaking out about getting even more behind in his work. We're popping up for an overnight tomorrow - taking him back to the hotel with us for a good night's sleep and some TLC.

I'm so sorry. I'm glad you're going to see him.

We all have had a virus that seemed to last forever. She and her brother had it for weeks and weeks. And weeks. My husband had it. I got it at the tail end of our Disney trip and am still not over it 4 weeks later. It's crazy.

So maybe your son is just not over what he had before? Anyway, I hope he turns a corner with it soon.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Thanks for the well-wishes, @mom2rtk, and I hope your DD is better soon as well, @ColoradoDisneyFreaks!

DS seems to be on the mend physically, and got laundry done and big lab report while at the hotel, but he's still stressing over tests this week because he missed so much.

I think not getting enough sleep is a big factor for him, which of course is a vicious cycle - get behind because you're sick, then stay up late when you get better to get caught up...

But I'm hoping things start looking up for him by the end of the week.

 

[soccerdad72]

Hoping everyone's sick kids are on the mend.

It's weird to think that by the end of this week we'll know where our son will be living next school year. Sounds like they have a group of four boys together and they know the apartment complex (on campus) that they want to live, so it's just a matter of selecting the unit. Shouldn't be a problem getting into the complex they're talking about. It's not necessarily where he wanted to live, but in talking to him last week, he's ok going along with the other three because he still wants to stay roommates with his friend. It'll be a lot cheaper, so we have that going for us.

 

[mjkacmom]

Hoping everyone's sick kids are on the mend.

It's weird to think that by the end of this week we'll know where our son will be living next school year. Sounds like they have a group of four boys together and they know the apartment complex (on campus) that they want to live, so it's just a matter of selecting the unit. Shouldn't be a problem getting into the complex they're talking about. It's not necessarily where he wanted to live, but in talking to him last week, he's ok going along with the other three because he still wants to stay roommates with his friend. It'll be a lot cheaper, so we have that going for us.

Lol we signed a lease in October! DD’s friends were conflicted between two apartments, 3 and 3. Fortunately they came to an agreement.

 

[mjkacmom]

Two UD students are in the hospital being tested for coronavirus. Sorority rush officially starts tonight. Greek life is pretty big, and they rush all of the sororities. Dd has no problem making friends, but I hope she lands where she belongs.

 

[design_mom]

Sounds like your school is 2 weeks behind ours -- we had 2 students tested for coronavirus (both negative thankfully) and it was the start of greek "recruitment" too. "Bid day" was last Sunday. I wasn't in a sorority and I just don't think I "get it" in regards to greek life, so I was kind of glad DS didn't have an interest in joining a fraternity. Good luck to your DD. I hope she finds a good fit.

 

[mjkacmom]

Sounds like your school is 2 weeks behind ours -- we had 2 students tested for coronavirus (both negative thankfully) and it was the start of greek "recruitment" too. "Bid day" was last Sunday. I wasn't in a sorority and I just don't think I "get it" in regards to greek life, so I was kind of glad DS didn't have an interest in joining a fraternity. Good luck to your DD. I hope she finds a good fit.

Yep, classes started yesterday!

 

[yeahdisney]

DS was home this weekend, just chilling. He, I think, can be a minimumist for his dorm room. When I returned him to school, we gathered up stuff from his dorm that he didn’t use/wear/eat-filled the trunk. I figured, why not, less to bring home later.
We talked about summer plans for him to earn money.

 

[yeahdisney]

DS was home this weekend, just chilling. He, I think, can be a minimumist for his dorm room. When I returned him to school, we gathered up stuff from his dorm that he didn’t use/wear/eat-filled the trunk. I figured, why not, less to bring home later.
We talked about summer plans for him to earn money.

 

[design_mom]

Glad your son had a good weekend at home yeahdisney? Mine has spring break in a little less than 2 weeks. I'm hoping we can pack up some of his "doesn't need" stuff too.

One of DS's friends/dormmates put together plans for a sophomore year LLC so those who want to can all live together next year. They found out last week that their proposal was approved. They had to put down their top 3 choices for dorm assignment and they got #3, but it's still a big step up from their current dorm (both in location and amenities). They haven't found out exactly which rooms they'll get yet -- actual room assignments apparently take place after spring break, but I think DS is glad to know where he'll be (and that it will be a reasonably good assignment). For kids not in an LLC, dorm selection is done by lottery.

 

[mjkacmom]

DD’s birthday was yesterday, 4 of her bff’s from home came to visit fir the weekend (home on break) it was fun seeing pictures of her with her old and new friends all together. She is pledging, and last night they had to go look at a potential new sorority house. Some girls were told they have to live there next year, which is insane because off campus housing leases were signed in October (average deposit $750). She is close to her goal of raising $1000 for the dance fundraiser. She says her chemistry tutor is awesome, shares an Uber with another student to get to her. She found out her chemistry professor (who she had last semester too, notoriously known as the worst professor on camps) is retiring after this semester.

 

[Colleen27]

How are everyone's kids doing with all the coronavirus news so far? DD's school cancelled all student travel... about 12 hours after her group left for their spring break service trip. They arrived to a not-very-warm welcome by their host university, since DD's school has several students already self-quarantining after possibly being exposed to the virus at AIPAC and there are community transmission cases in her area. So after a very stressful Saturday of the faculty advisers going back and forth between cancelling and continuing. At 10pm she was on the phone with me, looking for flights to come home for the rest of the break rather than going back to campus right away with the group, but then it was *finally* decided just before midnight that they were going to continue the trip as planned.

The university has cancelled all non-essential student events, so DD is likely to have a pretty boring last couple months of the school year. She was glad it came after Super Tuesday, because she's involved with a get-out-the-vote organization on campus, but is worried about how it is going to impact their census outreach work. So far, classes are going ahead as scheduled with students and staff encouraged to develop distance/e-learning plans just in case classes are effected in the near future.

Housing for next year is still very much up in the air for DD. The housing lottery time slots were supposed to be sent out via email over the weekend, but I'm not sure DD has even seen hers because she didn't expect to have much data/cell connection once they reached their research site in Appalachia. The actual housing lottery doesn't start until March 26 and RA decisions are supposed to go out in the meantime, so we don't even know yet whether or not her lottery time/date will matter.

 

[bjscheel]

DD is home on break now and is filling it up with seeing friends. Yesterday we got a little bit of furniture from Craigslist for the apartment.

She's working on her schedule for next year and debating whether to continue the theatre minor. She's really not interested in the remaining classes, and would love to not have to spend hours in theatre shop every week. But she has a friend she talked into a theatre minor and she feels a little bad about quitting. She also thinks it will look good on a resume to have the minor but I doubt it would have much effect. I would prefer her to just concentrate on her major as there are electives there she wants to fit in.