COVID and NIC: A look back at the fall semester and what’s in the future for NIC students and faculty

Just 39 days short of the anniversary of the first confirmed COVID-19 case in North Idaho, NIC has gone through several changes to adapt to safety protocols through the ongoing pandemic.

“None of us had ever practiced, prepared, learned about doing something like this so pretty impressed with our staff,” said Graydon Stanley, vice president for student services. “The institution, the students, everybody just did a great job. There’s certainly a huge number of challenges.”

Graydon Stanley, vice president for student services. Photo courtesy of NIC marketing and communications.

Stanley praised the students for “sticking it out” and working their way through the semester with all the changes in place for their safety.

“I think given the circumstances it went exceptionally well,” Stanley said. “I couldn’t be more proud of all the stakeholders.”

Amanda Taitano, 20, an incoming NIC student during the fall semester said the biggest challenge for her was meeting people.

“It was especially difficult with social distancing and quarantining while I experienced COVID firsthand,” said Taitano who moved to the area from Alaska. “I didn’t have any online classes my first semester so I didn’t go through any struggles in that department quite yet.”

Stanley said that looking back, he felt that more than anything, the thing they need to improve on most for the spring semester was consistent communication.

“The effort was there, but sometimes the effectiveness just didn’t follow so we got to always stay focused on that,” Stanley said. “Sometimes I think we felt like we had gotten the word out and we obviously didn’t because students didn’t know, sometimes employees didn’t know.”

Jennifer Harbour, a yoga instructor at NIC, said that her classes weren’t significantly affected by the COVID changes besides the preventative social distancing and mask-wearing.

Masked students participate in a yoga class led by Jennifer Harbour, yoga instructor at NIC. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Harbour.

“I feel students who attended class in person had a better experience with yoga,” Harbour said. “However that being said, the Zoom students did find benefits in the teaching.”

Harbour said the masks, although cumbersome in an activities class, don’t impede physical movement or the students’ capacity to get the transmission of the teachings.

“I think fall overall for us was really good,” said Angie Rios, recreational sports and fitness programs coordinator.

As for the mask and social distancing, Rios said a lot of students weren’t opposed to it at all.

“They were kind of happy that we had protocols in place so fall was pretty easy I think for the students to just follow along and go with our protocols,” Rios said.

The Student Wellness and Recreation Center implemented extra safety protocols including extra sanitation and deep cleaning of the building. Photo by Annie Vladovska.

With fewer people on campus, recreation center staff have seen guest numbers drop, but Rios said they have had a chance to have a better connection with the students who do come in because of the smaller crowd.

As for the spring semester, enrollment at NIC is down 9.7% as of Jan. 25 compared to that time last year.

“We would have liked to have been better, but we certainly could have been worst,” Stanley said. “We knew what we looked like earlier and we’ve seen lots of institutions that are 20% or 25% down so we’re okay with that.”

It’s still unsure when NIC employees will be able to receive vaccines although there has been conversation asking for clarity of when vaccines for higher education faculty and staff will take place.

For students wondering about the upcoming school year, Stanley said NIC is preparing courses for next fall much like they did in spring, meaning lots of online and hybrid delivery.

“Our plan is that it’s pretty easy to go back to all face-to-face or primarily face-to-face if we have that opportunity, but right now, we are going to kind of plan that we’re going to have this multiple methods of delivery and if we’re in a similar environment like this we’re ready to go,” Stanley said. “If by chance we can go back to face-to-face then we can bring more of those back to campus.”

NIC has received 1,000 COVID test kits from Panhandle Health. There is no cost to NIC or students for these tests however NIC is prioritizing use. Students who are in nursing and health science programs who have to go out and do externships or go into the hospital have priority as well as Residence Hall students and athletic teams because of their close proximity.

If a student or faculty is having symptoms and wanting a test from NIC they can contact Student Services. As of Feb. 1, there have been 216 self-reported student cases and 64 employee cases at NIC since July. While not mandatory, students are asked to self-report if they test positive or are in close contact with someone positive with COVID-19 to prevent the spread and protect the NIC community.

“Student and faculty and staff safety has always been the No. 1 priority at NIC,” Harbour said. “That has not changed.”

As for the future of NIC, Stanley said the college will look at continuing to offer more online options even after the pandemic is over.

“Kind of exciting is the idea that in the future, when we’ve gotten control of the pandemic, I think we have so many more things that we’re able to do now that we didn’t realize we could,” Stanley said. “This has caused us to think differently and I think we’ll continue to do that in our future which would be good for our students ultimately but good for all of us.”