Grinnellian Covid Experiences - Eva Hill ’22

“Everyone was visibly reeling.”

June 24, 2020 — Eva Hill ’22 is a double major in English and sociology. She is from Belmont, Massachusetts.

I’m an editor at The Scarlet & Black, and someone on staff had managed to get a copy of the email that was sent to teachers about a day early that said that the school closing was imminent. I didn’t really know what to do once I saw that, so I basically just stayed in my room and did nothing that whole evening. I don't think I was able to get to sleep until 2 or 3 a.m.

The next day, though, I felt lucky that I’d had that advance warning. I was just prepared enough that it wasn’t totally devastating to get the email. I was walking to the Dining Hall when I got the email, so I arrived pretty much at the moment when everyone had found out and was talking about it.

I’ve never experienced anything quite like the feeling in that room — everyone was visibly reeling, some people were crying, and there was just a general sense of social breakdown. I also had the assignment of writing the breaking story on the closing announcement, so I was walking around and talking to people in the JRC, and the general sense of grief and chaos was bizarre to experience.

Right now, I’m at home in Massachusetts with my family. I’m also continuing to do reporting work, both at The S&B and at This Week in Worcester, a Massachusetts online newspaper. I'm hoping that through these jobs, I can provide useful information to local communities.