The Northwestern community is defined by connection. As a first-year student, I first realized this emphasis on facilitating connection from the moment I marched through Weber Arch and stood on Deering Meadow with my 2,000 fellow first-year students during Wildcat Welcome. Although connection manifests itself in different ways, building community always remains at the forefront of everything Northwestern students and faculty do. 

The tight knit nature of the Northwestern community has made the cancellation of in-person activities all the more harder to cope with. Gone are the days of MOD Pizza lunches with friends in Norris between classes or Saturdays in the Ryan Field student section with thousands of other classmates clad in purple to support the ‘Cats. Northwestern has not been free from the challenges that the pandemic has brought unto the rest of the world. The very pride and spirit of the Northwestern community have been tested in unimaginable ways. 

But the Northwestern community is resilient. Although the daily interactions at our university do not look the same as they used to in a world without COVID-19, the same virtues and value that this community places on facilitating connection still shine through. The drive to build relationships with each other and stay connected is still as alive as ever, it just looks different.

Instead of meeting in crowded dining halls for lunch or dinner, Northwestern students have taken their appetites outside to the Lakefill to enjoy their meals with friends in a way that is easy to social distance. In some ways, the pandemic has made me come to fully appreciate the natural beauty that our Evanston campus has to offer. Campus still does not feel quite the same as it did with a full, bustling body of students, but it is still incredibly refreshing to see classmates out and about, albeit socially distanced. 

Although we could not gather in-person at Ryan Field to see our Northwestern Wildcats embrace their underdog status and make the Big Ten Football Championship Game for the second time in three years, the community’s passion for supporting the team never relented. I spent game days nervously huddled around the TV in the living room with my roommates (decked out in purple, of course) as the ‘Cats pulled out unthinkable victory after unthinkable victory. Cheers could be heard throughout our off-campus Evanston neighborhood when the final whistle blew on another Wildcats win.

Moments like these remind me of why I chose to come to Northwestern in the first place. The community finds its spirit through supporting one another, and even a global pandemic could not stop that from remaining steadfast. Classes and club meetings may still be virtual for the time being, but seeing how the student body has stuck together and powered through these difficult times makes me know for certain that I made the right decision to pursue my undergraduate college experience at Northwestern. The strength and resilience that community members have shown toward one another to support each other during the pandemic makes me all the more excited to see how we will bounce back on the other side of these trying times.