Today I returned to my alma mater, Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green to photograph courses amid the global pandemic. I was curious to see how students were handling everyday protocol for mask wearing, distancing and how instructors would be using technology for those at home. I covered a biochemistry lab taught by Dr. Blairanne Williams. The students were all split into two rooms to fit social distancing protocol. All students wore masks and sat a couple feet apart. This day they were learning to separate milk proteins and the class was made up mostly of pre-med majors. I found myself chatting with the graduate student instructor named “ “ who was originally from Nigeria. Dr. Williams explained to me that “ “ father got stuck in Bowling Green with his daughter and is unable to return to his home country due to US travel bans. I felt sympathy for “ “ having to pursue her graduate studies at such an unprecedented time in U.S. history. I thought about how much her father must miss her mother. We chatted about Nigeria’s weather, how she’s adjusted to her time here, but we had trouble communicating through our masks. At one point Dr. Williams remarked that she expected the school to be shutting down within a couple of weeks. Bowling Green had been seeing an uptick in COVID-19 cases since school started back. There have been reports of frat and sorority parties and other students not following safety protocol. My best friend, whom I’m staying with and who is also a student at WKU, has told me several times how nervous she feels being around other students. Walking back to my car, I noticed how empty campus felt. It was nothing like my time in 2011-2015. I can’t imagine being a college student during this time. As I walked nearby Park Street, just a block from one of my old college apartments, I saw an electrical box tagged with “F*ck the KKK.” It was a symbol that spoke to me amid the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests and increasing racial tension in our country. Given how segregated the college campus felt during my time there, I felt the need to take a photo of it.
