Penn State students

Worsening COVID-19 conditions at the end of last year led Penn State to move all spring semester classes online until Feb. 15. The university also discouraged all students – living both on and off campus – from returning to State College until then. But many students have already returned to Centre County. 

Avinash Saraiya is a pre-med student at Penn State. He moved in to his off-campus apartment in mid-January. He said being in Centre County makes him feel connected to the university even during the pandemic.

Roughly 35,000 students came back to Penn State this fall for classes during the coronavirus pandemic. One out of every seven of those students contracted COVID-19 during the semester. Some Penn State students who tested positive shared their experiences with the virus and whether catching it made them more or less cautious. 

On Saturday, Penn State’s football team will host the Ohio State Buckeyes at Beaver Stadium without fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The university is providing on-campus students with new and safe ways to watch the game. 

Many Penn State students tuned in to Tuesday night's presidential debate between President Donald Trump and the Democratic nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden. 

Freshman Sharif Fouda didn’t watch the whole debate, but said the parts he did watch were enough to sway his vote. 

While many Penn State students are set to return to the University Park campus for the fall semester in less than a month, some are worried about what school will look like amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Penn State hosted a virtual town hall on its COVID-19 plans for the fall semester Thursday, including testing for students, faculty and staff amid the pandemic. 

Penn State leaders hosted a virtual town hall for parents and students on Monday to clarify any concerns about the university’s "Back to State" plan for returning to school in the fall. Some students say their questions remain unanswered.

Junior journalism major Lexy Leidlein is back home in her childhood bedroom in Waterbury, Connecticut. In mid-May she visited State College to move out of her dorm. While she was in town, Leidlein noticed several downtown houses hosting “porch parties.” It made her think students will not follow social distancing protocols. 

As an active college student, I’m constantly bouncing like a ping pong ball from my dorm to class to the library and back again. I make lists of the multitude of things I need to do: take care of laundry, write a paper, go to a study group, grab dinner with friends. Sometimes my day doesn’t end until I crawl into bed at 3 AM. Stress can build up after weeks of this hectic lifestyle, and sometimes I feel like the running around will never end. But no matter how busy my day is, I always take a few minutes to relax before I go to sleep. Almost every night without fail, I curl up in bed, pull out my cell phone and continue my battle against brightly colored pieces of candy for the extent of five short lives. Yes, for those who might have guessed, I am indeed a proud player of the popular smartphone game Candy Crush Saga.  For those of you who aren’t familiar, Candy Crush Saga is a puzzle game that involves swapping and matching multicolored candy. It’s mostly mindless and yes, some would even say it’s a waste of time, but for me, it’s a lifesaver.