Westmont welcomes students back to campus for in-person instruction

MONTECITO, Calif. — Classes are back on campus at Westmont College, but students must be masked, distanced and outdoors under a tent.

"It's just great to be together,” Westmont president Gayle Beebe said. “Even if you have to improvise a little in order to make it work."

Westmont is one of the few colleges in California cleared for in-person instruction. 

"The chance to sit and actually see your fellow students around you and hear your professor not through a Zoom call has been really great,” Westmont senior Noah Good said.

"I really just appreciate being able to just have that real-time interaction with professors,” Westmont junior Hannah Grierson said.

In order to reopen, the private Christian liberal arts college administered more than 1,800 coronavirus tests on all students and staff since the spring semester began.

Westmont's overall COVID-19 positivity rate is 0.61% while Santa Barbara County's testing positivity rate hovering around 18%.

"I feel safer honestly at Westmont than I do at home when it comes to COVID-19,” Grierson said. “Knowing that we're all tested regularly and that students are really careful when they do go off campus."

"We're trying to create a really safe bubble,” Westmont vice president of enrollment Irene Neller said. “We ask our students to be very limited with their off campus engagement."

Although rain is in the forecast for the remainder of this week, the staff has preparations put in place.

"We'll shift those classes back into the Zoom environment for those days,” Beebe said. “Then just immediately repopulate outside."

After enduring the COVID-19 pandemic, the Thomas Fire and the Montecito Mudslide, the school’s seniors have learned plenty of lessons on resiliency.

"Their attitudes just reflect that of resiliency and we're all in this together,” Neller said.

"We always come back stronger and come back together, so that's what's important,” Good concluded.

Westmont College is planning on hosting an in-person graduation ceremony on May 8.