Valdosta State responds to COVID-19 emergency ending

VALDOSTA, Ga. (WALB) - President Biden is calling for an end to what’s been a 3-year-long national health emergency.

In 2020, the Trump administration declared a COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency. Now, the Biden administration plans to end both emergencies on May 11, 2023.

Some may not have liked the news, but most faculty at Valdosta State University (VSU) and students say it’s time. They say they adapted well and quickly to COVID, but they’re ready to get back to a traditional college experience.

“COVID threw all of us for a loop. Especially us at a higher education institution. Slowly now moving into 2023, things are finally almost getting back to normal. And we’re so excited about that. We know our students are excited too. We’re just so glad that we’re kind of at that point now and hopefully on the other side of this,” Robbyn DeSpain, director of strategic communications at VSU, said.

Robbyn DeSpain is the director of strategic communications at VSU. She says they have several... — Robbyn DeSpain is the director of strategic communications at VSU. She says they have several programs that are coming back now that the national public health emergency is ending.(Source: WALB)

VSU says they received good feedback about how they handled the pandemic, but they’re ready to bring back programs like study abroad. They say this year they have locations like Dubai and London in mind.

“We’re excited that our study abroad opportunities this summer are continuing to grow. Our college of the arts has a couple of great outreach programs they recently brought back and are bringing back for the first time since 2019. For example, we had Tubes for Tots last month. And Dancing with the Valdosta Stars just announced it’s coming back for the first time in three or four years,” DeSpain said

Some VSU students say COVID not only impacted their learning abilities but their overall college experience was.

“I’m definitely excited to see more people coming out. I work at VSU campus rec(reation) and not as many people are coming out to the gym anymore or any events. So it’s going to be nice to get pictures of people actually interacting with all of the events going on, on campus,” Marybelle Caldwell, a VSU student, said.

Some VSU students say knowing that programs are coming back to campus brightens their day. They... — Some VSU students say knowing that programs are coming back to campus brightens their day. They say campus really died down since the pandemic.(Source: WALB)

VSU says throughout the pandemic, their students craved a normal college experience and they’re ready to bring it back.

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