SCRANTON, Pa. — This week's weather has kept the Dionne Green on the University of Scranton campus busy. It's been a chance to get outside during a semester spent mostly in front of screens.
But university officials gave students word this week that the upcoming fall semester will be all in-person.
"We're just wondering, just kind of wondering when everything was going to get back to normal, or at least close to it, so 's nice to have an endpoint in sight," said junior Colleen Chan.
For these juniors, it's assurance that their senior year will be more like what they had hoped it would be.
"Very exciting," junior Anna Wengyn said. "We just found out recently also that our senior week this year is canceled. A lot of my senior friends are bummed. They're happy to have in-person graduation, but all of those fun events are canceled, so the possibility for us, it's looking good, is very exciting."
For some of the older students on campus, this news means that their senior year will be back to normal, but some of the younger students haven't had a normal educational experience in two years.
"When I received the email, I was pretty excited because it seems like it will be the freshman year we never really had," said freshman Wilmarr Saint Surin.
Freshman Mitchell Sporing has been taking virtual classes since the second half of his senior year of high school in 2020. He expects it will be easier to learn in-person in the fall.
"It's been nice that we've been able to be on campus, albeit virtually or hybrid, but to know that we're going back for the fall fully in-person, it's going to be really awesome to have that in-person, fully in class, see our professors and just go to class."
The University of Scranton says it will still follow Department of Health guidelines regarding indoor capacity, even as the campus opens up. The school plans to host some camps on campus over the summer.