HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – With in-person classes wrapped up and final exams concluding on Tuesday for the fall semester, Montana State University-Northern Chancellor Greg Kegel says the return to classroom learning was a success.
“We did very well. It wasn’t perfect, I don’t think there was any way to make it perfect. But I’m satisfied that we did as good as we could do. I’m very proud of the students for hanging in there.”
In the midst of the pandemic, the semester wasn’t without plenty of challenges. Northern does not release COVID-19 case data, but according to the Department of Public Health and Human Services, there were 58 COVID-19 cases associated with Northern as of December 2nd.
“The problems that we had were so many kids in isolation, and the effect that the quarantine and isolation does have on any individual. Through this whole time, I personally was quarantined two times for 28 days in total that I had to be quarantined, and it was miserable. For a student, a young person, when that happens to them, it’s not good. So working through that, that was the hardest hardship probably of all, was working with the kids that found themselves (in quarantine). Our football team had a miserable experience with it…We’re going to work on ways this winter so we don’t have so many of them when they are exposed, in quarantine. Being able to test faster and just change some things up a little bit.”
The spring semester at Northern is scheduled to begin on January 19th, with residence halls opening on the 17th.
