Whether taking online classes, working or spending time with friends and family, some Drake students have started making plans to make the most of this summer, which will mark the second summer during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID affected my plans since I have to work from home and I’m not able to work in the office and get the full internship experience,” said junior Jordyn Conard.
Conard will be taking two Drake summer classes and doing a full-time summer internship at Guideone Insurance, where she started interning in May 2020 and will continue to intern until May 2022.
“I’m most looking forward to the weekend when I don’t have to do as much,” Conard said.
Brooke Busch, a first-year Drake student, will also be taking summer classes, along with working and spending time with her family.
“If the [COVID] case count is still fairly high, the family that’s supposed to come home from out-of-state won’t be here, which is sad since I haven’t seen them in so long,” Busch said. “I want to make up for lost time with my out-of-state family and hang out with my sister before she gets married and moves away.”
Even though she is taking online summer classes, Busch said that it is what she is “least looking forward to.”
“I really value that break from academics and use it as time to reset and motivate myself for another school year, but I think it’ll be good to stay in the swing of things so I don’t entirely lose motivation for school,” Busch said.
Senior Bailey Murphy is also taking online summer classes and working.
“During the summer I’ll be staying in Des Moines to nanny full time for a family close by and I’ll also be taking two online courses. The only struggle is the limited options for activities and things to do with the kids, so I’ll have to be much more creative with how I entertain them compared to a normal summer,” Murphy said.
In addition to work and school, Murphy is looking forward to spending time with her friends. But COVID-19 restrictions that are still in place will affect how they will be able to do that.
“I know last summer it was basically impossible to find a pool to swim in and simple stuff like that, and it likely will be the same situation this year,” Murphy said.
But there are still options to have fun this summer despite COVID-19 restrictions. First-year Andrew Copeland will spend his summer traveling the outdoors.
“I plan on visiting Washington with my family and I am going to explore the Northwest forests,” Copeland said. “After, I plan to visit Seattle with my family. Some buddies and I plan on going to Lake of the Ozarks before school starts to have a blast as well.”
Copeland said COVID-19 won’t affect his plans since he will mostly be outside.
“I look forward to exploring the forests with my dog and having a great time outdoors,” Copeland said.
