By: Nate Carsten
A new semester, the same plague, it’s time to shed our damaged skin, build up our defenses, and kick COVID to the curb.
Every college and high school student will remember and recount their first year of COVID education. The question is, how many years are we to reminisce? Parkland wants to be part of the solution. It wants to keep COVID-19 quarantined for as few semesters as possible. By the time this is read, we will have already started the process of fortifying our defenses.
August 26th, Governor J.B. Pritzker released an executive order aimed to keep students safe and healthy. It said that all higher education personnel and students must be vaccinated or be tested weekly, and this would need to start by September 5th. On September 17th, Governor Pritzker signed the executive order that would allow higher education systems to exclude any student or faculty not following the sanctioned protocols.
Even before the executive order, Parkland, namely Michael Trame (pronounced tray-me), have gone to a great extent to keep us safe and communicate how to do so. Students received an email as early as August 19th telling them about how Parkland had partnered up with Walgreens to host vaccine clinics on campus, those dates now past. Since then, students have been updated whenever a new piece of priceless information was produced, like Parkland’s process of patrolling if students and faculty are safe: get vaccinated or test negative. To do so, Parkland has partnered with SHIELD CU for COVID testing and the SaferCommunity app for COVID test screening.
The SaferCommunity app will be used to verify if a student or faculty member is safe enough to enter the college. Parkland will check the apps by limiting the entrances to the building and providing paid monitors to check and usher everyone inside safely. Thanks to Trame’s emails, Cobras know which doors will be accessible and when they won’t be. Cobras without access to the app can obtain a PBADP. A PBADP is an in-person daily pass to enter the building. Cobras can get one of these by entering room B124 through the outside entrance, east of door X2, and closest to parking lots B6 and B7. There will be a help desk stationed there to move the process along as well. Make sure to account for a line. For more information, check their website.
Michael Trame, Vice President of Student Services reassures the Parkland Community that these precautions are in place to lower the impact of COVID, so as to get back to “normal” faster. Though we do not know when these restrictions will be lifted, Trame guarantees that, “We will follow the directives of the State of Illinois until told not to.” Trame takes pride in being part of an educational system of a state that is still leading the charge towards controlling Covid. That includes our collegial partner, the University of Illinois- true leaders in the community with their branded saliva tests and covid monitoring systems in practice since last year. He wishes we had similar measures last fall semester.
Trame wants all the cobras to know, “We care about progress. Progress in protection for both the students and faculty and progress for grades and lifestyle here at Parkland. Safety is our number one concern.”
I agree with Trame. I want good grades, I want to have class on campus, so I will follow the guidelines set by the professionals. With compliance we will have success, and that is the goal.
I think it would be safe to say that we are tired of this game of cat and mouse. We’re cobras; we don’t play these games. I also know I’m no psychic, but if we want to kick this sick to the curb, we all need to do what is best and participate and stay healthy. Who wants to keep repeating college? So, keep updated, stay tuned, and check your email! Good luck, everyone.
