Before coming to college, Sari Arrow had never been away from her family for the Jewish High Holidays.
When Emily Thomas* arrived at South Campus’ Goodyear Hall for her mandatory two-week quarantine, she received: face masks, garbage bags, a muffin, two cookies, toilet paper, disinfectant, a bottle of water and a rotten banana.
Under normal circumstances, students would have dozens of questions about what campus will look like in the new year. But these aren’t normal circumstances; if anything, COVID-19 has left students with more questions than at any time before.
Alexander Sansolo’s wishes were granted when he got the opportunity to intern at the Magic Kingdom. Three years of college and academics left him “burnt out” but the internship was his golden ticket to the Disney “imagineering” world and a way to find his true calling.
This year began with catastrophe after catastrophe. Headlines describing the massive impacts of the coronavirus litter our screens. TikToks of college students longing for their friends with moody indie songs playing in the background have flooded the “For You” page. Oil prices dipped into the negatives for the first time in history on Tuesday. The new normal is filled with plenty to be sad about.
We’ve been stuck at home for a month and there is no end in sight. But that’s where TikTok comes in handy.
Precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are updating daily, as people are now required to wear protective face masks in public. These masks are often difficult to find due to high demand.
Collegiate athletes are accustomed to competition. They’re used to competing everyday in practice, in the gym and during games. And when the most integral part of their lives is taken away from them, they adapt.
Quarantine came at an inconvenient time for all of us. Whether it was for seniors who aren’t quite ready to say goodbye to their college days or for those who no longer have close friends at home like they do at school, saying goodbye this early is hard. But a less serious, yet still disappointing, result of vacating campus midway through the semester is the toll it can take on students’ love lives. Relationships become exponentially more difficult for couples who aren’t ready for the challenge of distance or are stuck inside a tiny apartment together all day (and it doesn’t look like the New York State self-quarantining guidelines are ending anytime soon).
With most of New York, and the U.S., under quarantine, all gyms are closed and leaving many without a place to work out. For some, the lack of exercise increases anxiety and depression, which is likely already heightened from the COVID-19 outbreak. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to stay fit while staying at home and helping flatten the curve. Be sure to shake up your self-isolation with one of these convenient at-home workouts.
Flute Fingers, a performer at Saturday’s Black Explosion fashion show, approached the stage on a hoverboard, playing Drake and Future’s “Life is Good” on his flute. Soon after, the performer wound up serenading an audience member with a flute rendition of Juvenile’s “Back That Azz Up.”
At the end of its International Fiesta performance Saturday, the Latin American Student Association stormed the Center for the Arts stage, holding signs to protest domestic violence. The display was the final emotional moment in the club’s first-place victory at SA’s annual dance competition. It marked LASA’s fourth win since 2011, with a performance that illuminated domestic violence within the Latin American community.
The Student Union may be one of the most popular places for UB students to grab their grub, but some students say the impersonal feeling of campus food leaves them craving something a little closer to home.
Yusef Salaam and the four other members of the ‘Exonerated 5’ did not receive compensation until 12 years after the Daily News declared ‘We got the wrong kids’ on Oct. 11, 2002. Over a decade earlier, the ‘Exonerated 5’ were wrongfully accused of raping ‘The Central Park Jogger.’ Salaam was imprisoned for nearly seven years for a crime he did not commit.
Iaisha Johnson was “nervous” approaching the stage Friday night in Goodyear Hall. But once she finally stood in front of her 45 peers, she became more confident. For three minutes, Johnson shared her pride for her culture and was a force on stage. Whenever she said, “I’m black, y’all,” her audience responded, “how black?” in unity.
Fantasy Island, an amusement park in Grand Island, permanently closed on Wednesday and students are reflecting on the childhood summers they spent there.
Students have until March 13 to redeem campus reward points at UB Campus Tees. After that, points awarded through dining dollar purchases, campus cash purchases and meal swipes will expire. Under the current program, students can use points at any time during their UB career, but participants forfeit all accumulated points if they have not reactivated their dining plan within 12 consecutive months. Many students, unaware of the program’s rules and restrictions, unknowingly forfeited their points by failing to redeem them before the end of the 12-month period. Now, students hope others will take advantage of the program before the March 13 deadline to avoid forfeiting their points, too.
Vaughn Law says they struggled to be open with their bisexuality while embracing their Hong Kong-Vietnamese culture. Since their intersecting cultures have “similar values,” including a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach to sexuality, they feared coming out. And today, only some family members know of their sexuality.
With STD rates on the rise, students may need a refresher on their middle school “sex-ed” classes. Students are having unprotected sex –– according to The Spectrum sex survey, 23.3% of students who are sexually active say they do not use any form of contraception –– leaving them vulnerable to sexually-transmitted disease diagnoses and unwanted pregnancies. UB offers several types of contraceptives to students for free. All you have to do is schedule an appointment at Michael Hall –– which offers free STD and pregnancy testing –– to find out what best fits your needs. Emergency contraceptives, like Plan B, are available on North and South Campus, but they aren’t cheap.
Conversations and global movements surrounding climate change in the last few years have taken off. Greta Thunberg, even at 16 years old, has taken the climate change movement by storm.
Solutions by The State News
