COVID-19
February 13, 2025
Winter sickness spreads on campus
College students are no strangers to illness, and this winter is no exception, with reported instances of COVID-19, Influenza, RSV and cold symptoms, many missed classes and even rescheduled events. This was the case for both Fatima Rhana, senior music and theater major, and Victor Vegas, senior music major, who were forced to reschedule their senior recitals. These recitals are a requirement of the music major, and thus essential to complete. Rhana said that it was a hard decision to reschedule, but a necessary one that the department was very understanding of. “The department was so fast and super understanding....
November 21, 2024
Appreciating GC’s sports communicators
Two driving forces behind all sixteen of Goshen College’s sports teams are Tony Miller, statistician, and Justin DeWeese, assistant athletic director of communications and operations DeWeese explained that his role has two parts, with the communications part entailing “writing up the game previews and reviews for the college athletics website, goleafs.net.” The operations part of his job entails ensuring that everything on game days runs smoothly for all of the teams when they play at home, including “setting up and tearing down and getting all of the workers together,” DeWeese said. Miller explained that he is “the person responsible for...
April 14, 2022
After the pandemic, I want to…
COVID-19 affected the lives of everyone. For many young people, that meant scrolling mindlessly through TikTok and binge-watching Netflix. It also intensified the looming uncertainty of the future. Despite the unknown, young people continue to hold onto the hope of a safe, Zoom-free world without COVID-19. Inspired by an article in the The Washington Post, we asked Goshen College students to respond to the statement, “After the pandemic, I want to….” In their own handwriting, here are their responses. Claudia Mobley, 19, was a senior in high school when the pandemic shut her world down. On Mar. 13, 2020, she...
January 20, 2022
Omicron spreads on campus, variant less severe
Omicron, the newest COVID-19 variant, is spreading through campus like no variant before. Since the start of winter break, over 100 students have tested positive for the virus, compared to 16 total cases in the fall semester. But the more mild nature of the variant combined with the high vaccination rate on campus means there is less reason for concern. In shifting from the Delta to the Omicron variant, the “whole equation has changed,” said President Rebecca Stotzfus. Over 93% of campus is fully vaccinated, and many students and staff have also received a booster, both of which dramatically reduce...
December 2, 2021
COVID -19’s impact on student mental health
The COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on the mental health of college students around the country and at Goshen College. National surveys show that depression, anxiety, substance use and suicidal thoughts increased in college students during the pandemic’s first year, when many were forced to live in isolation without a clear end in sight. One study published in BMC Psychology found that over 70% of college students reported an increase in anxiety, depression and loneliness during the pandemic. In addition to the isolation, fear and actual losses felt by many, remote learning was also a cause of stress for students,...
October 14, 2021
Students receive COVID-19 relief funds
Seven hundred and sixty two Goshen College undergraduate students received COVID-19 relief funds from the federal government last week, including students who didn’t qualify for the first two batches last year. Students were notified last Thursday of the funds provided by the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund III as part of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) act. While the previous two batches of COVID-19 relief money were not awarded to international, DACA and undocumented students, a ruling by the government last May changed that. The Biden administration passed the ARP act in March of this year. It allocated $39.6 billion...
October 7, 2021
Homecoming Gala features students and faculty
The music department opened their season with the Homecoming Music Gala in Sauder Concert Hall on Saturday. It was the first performance with a live audience of community members since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Performing were the Goshen College choirs (Chamber Choir, Vox Profundi and Voices of the Earth), directed by Scott Hochstetler and H. Roz Woll, the GC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Brian Mast, the Sherer Trio (Solomia Soroka, violin; Dato Machavariani, cello; Matthew Hill, piano) and a string octet which was made up of both students and faculty. The annual Homecoming Gala was the first event held in...
September 30, 2021
Mask mandate to remain
Ninety-two percent of students and employees at Goshen College are now fully or partially vaccinated. Still, the mask mandate will remain in effect until infection rates in the Goshen area decline, the Pandemic Task Force (PTF) announced last week. The increase in vaccination rates on campus is partly a result of additional reporting by students and employees in the past few weeks. As of this week, only four percent of employees and five percent of students have yet to report on their status. “Getting to over 90 percent [for full and partial vaccinations], that is huge,” said Jodi Beyeler, vice...
September 9, 2021
COVID-19 in 2021
With 82 percent of the student body vaccinated, and an even higher rate among employees, Goshen College may soon become a mask-free campus. The college announced a vaccination mandate for all of campus when the FDA gave full approval for the Pfizer vaccine in August. The mandate, placed in effect the day students arrived on campus, specified that masks would be required until 90 percent of campus is vaccinated or until “our county is no longer considered to have ‘substantial community transmission’ of the virus by the CDC.” At the present, thirteen percent of students and employees have...
April 9, 2021
Clothesline brings style and safety to Goshen
Barbara Gingerich’s front yard has become the talk of the town. Whether you’re walking, running, biking or driving down Eighth Street, you won’t miss her colorful operation. A small white sign in the grass reads “FREE MASKS.” Meanwhile, a homespun clothesline hangs between two trees — and on it, over a dozen handmade masks sway in the wind. The initial recommendation for face coverings to combat COVID-19 came in March of 2020, and since then, Gingerich has been supplying the community with different patterned masks. “It was at a time when there was a shortage of commercial masks,” Gingerich said....
April 9, 2021
China SST canceled for second consecutive year
On Mar. 26, the Global Engagement Office made the decision to cancel the fall 2021 China SST unit. It’s the second year Goshen College has delayed their longest running SST unit, run consecutively since 1980. Jan Bender Shetler, director of global engagement, said that GC has been in conversation with their partner institution, China West Normal University (CWNU) in Nanchong, Sichuan Province. “We have been talking to them through emails and Zoom conversations since last year when it was cancelled,” she said. “Certainly more intensely in the fall and again in the spring. They kept thinking that things would open...
April 9, 2021
Vaccination rates on campus climb
As of yesterday, 558 members of the Goshen College community have reported receiving at least one dose of the vaccine. Four hundred and twenty eight of these people have received both doses. These numbers are likely lower than the actual number of students and employees who have been vaccinated, as individual reporting is the only way statistics on this subject can be gathered. According to Kevin Miller, pandemic task force coordinator, Goshen College was able to vaccinate 196 and 76 people on Thursday and Friday of last week respectively, “including some friends and family from the community, not just GC...
March 25, 2021
Public health professionals speak on COVID-19 disparities
On Monday at noon, a workshop co-sponsored by the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the MLK Jr. Day Planning Committee was held, featuring three presenters who spoke on COVID-19 disparities among the African American and Latino communities. The workshop was led by Richard Aguirre, coordinator for community impact. The presenters were Dr. Rose Alvarez Gillin, family physician; Brianne Brenneman, assistant professor of public health; and Zenton Yobera, the first student set to graduate with a degree in public health. They each spoke on their experiences related to COVID-19, and the inequities that they have witnessed in the past...
