Mercer students adapt as coronavirus impacts classes, graduation

Mercer University senior, Rylee Kirk, had her life all figured out in Macon. She would wake up in her dorm room, go to class or the library and graduate in May. Covid-19 abruptly changed her plans.

“It went from after May life is a giant question mark to every single day of my life is now a giant question mark,” Kirk said.

The university has not made an official announcement yet concerning whether or not graduation will be canceled or postponed.

In a message on the website March 27, Mercer University President William Underwood said, “We will have traditional commencement ceremonies to celebrate the accomplishments of all of our graduates, though whether we will be able to proceed as scheduled remains uncertain. We do not want to make this decision prematurely.”

When Underwood gave students the option to stay on campus or return home to resume classes online, Kirk was initially going to stay on campus because both of her parents are in the high risk category. Her father, John Kirk, is 65 years old and her mother, Penelope Kirk, has lupus. They urged her to return home to Effingham County.

“You don’t know what the next step is so her being almost three hours away, if it does evolve to a lockdown like Italy or other places then we definitely want her close,” Penelope said.

Once the distance was no longer an issue, John was concerned that Rylee would lose a semester of college. He was pleased with the decision to move classes online for all students March 23.

Larry Brumley, the Chief of Staff at Mercer, said the university is adapting as conditions and circumstances change just like everyone else.

“We have a commitment to deliver an educational experience to our students and our faculty are really stepping up and working extra hard and going to herculean efforts to retool the courses for online delivery,” said Larry Brumley, the Chief of Staff at Mercer.

Rylee said it has been helpful that her professors have been in contact regularly.

“I have to say that Dr. Scott, the department head for history has emailed us every couple of days. He’s, you know, just done such an incredible job of making me feel the Mercer community even though I’m not on campus,” she said.

For now, Rylee is focused on getting through the rest of the semester and caring for her parents. As for graduation, she said she can give up being “handed a piece of paper on a stage.”

“At the end of the day, I got a question like, you know, does that piece of paper, you know, is that more important than the health and safety of my friends, my professors, my parents, my classmates, and the answer is no,” said Rylee.

The University will make a decision regarding the May commencement ceremonies by mid-April.