We have friends who own a small local restaurant. they made sure ALL their workers were vaccinated. Just heard a little while ago that 3 have Covid and one is symptomatic.
I’m having doubts about this vaccine…and how well it works.
I totally understand masking and testing at college again. Tufts was out in front of this months ago.
Hopefully with FDA approval of monoclonal antibodies we are closer to successful treatments. We need more than just the vaccine.
Anyone out there can start looking for internships early. D21, who will not be a stem major, already has a Linked in account and went to a Colgate career center event yesterday that taught the students how to use their Colgate-only alumni database. She can start looking at alumni who graduated with her major and see what they do for a living now, reach out to them and get advice.
S19 has some pretty bright friends at places like Vandy and Wash U who still haven’t had an internship because they did not do a correct search. They are working random jobs this summer. It’s not all about being stem and at a top school as those kids are comp sci majors. They just didn’t do the work needed to find an internship.
That doesn’t mean it’s luck for those who are qualified for said internship. Yes, people are at different academic, social, etc. levels, but those who are bright earn their opportunities, same as anyone.
Also, according to my D, the “masks outdoors when unable to maintain distance” thing is more of a formality and is not really an expectation unless there is a large gathering. Also not enforced.
Glad to hear they are doing orientation in person. My daughter is concerned about her sports season – if they have to wear masks outdoors, how are they going to play soccer or field hockey or football, etc.
Have you or your D heard anything more about the fall sports season?
This is likely what’s occurring. We aren’t hearing any colleges and universities announce de-densification plans or dis-invite half the campus like they did last year. It’s possible that some might shut down in-person and go remote for a bit to take care of a local breakout but that would very likely be for a week or two at most. Everyone knows a lot more about how to get around and do things in the world of Covid than they used to.
@homerdog you are just proving my point. Your son is exceptional. He is not the norm. Yet you keep throwing it out like this is an option for everyone. It’s not. Your daughter also appears to be similar. Congratulations on having two such motivated and accomplished children.
Honestly, I am responding with info about our kids because anyone can use their career center and Linked in. It’s free. And parents can certainly be motivators and tell their kids what is expected of them if the student isn’t doing it on their own. Going to college is about learning of course but also about what happens after school and that’s a whole separate responsibility on top of the students’ academics and any extracurriculars they are doing in college.
Our kids aren’t exceptional because they take advantage of career advice early. That option is open to all.
My daughter was able to do her co-op during Covid and even added a summer internship at another company. Did she work hard and hustle? Of course. Do I think she also got lucky that her co-op company didn’t cancel last year or go remote? Yes I do.
She had plenty of hard working friends who had their co-ops or internships cancelled with little notice. One friend sent out over 500 resumes and worked every contact he could but to no avail. Did he piece together a meaningful summer with classwork and certifications, yes, but he was not working and that impacted his ability to land the next summer’s position. Lets not pretend that there isn’t some serendipity at play no matter how talented the student.
Back to the topic. Our town’s positive test rate just hit 20%, and the ER has a 10 hour wait to see patients due to the covid influx, per my friend currently working there. No, I do not think I am being unduly pessimistic, but YMMV.
Not a thread on finding employment. And luck is involved in every single job offer, regardless of how qualified one is or how hard one worked. Most people who have had jobs know that
I did say there could be some element of luck. I never ‘pretended’ serendipity can’t play a role.
My point is the age old saying “the harder I work, the luckier I get”. That doesn’t mean everyone will be successful, or optimize their opportunities…especially during a pandemic. But, this year even more so than last year, there will be more opportunities for gappers.
OMG! Our positivity rate jumped to 1.7% and people are freaking out. We were at 0.5% just a few weeks ago. Thankfully our hospitalization numbers haven’t gone up. I am hearing about a lot of people going to get tested with cold symptoms so maybe that’s driving up the numbers here with mild cases but it’s not good to see the numbers rising again.
Yes, it is bad. Doctors here do expect this surge to spread by the fall, so predictions are really uncertain. Very grateful, of course, that the vaccines work so well against hospitalization and death. That is so impressive. I just wish they prevented long-haul consequences too, in breakthru cases.
Certainly doesn’t feel like Amherst is back to normal. Yes, orientation is on, but there will be no orientation trips. The 6 feet outdoor distance rule is silly. The indoor masking rule means many social events will be curtailed at least initially. Studying in the library with a mask on doesn’t feel like a return to normal. It may mean kids stay in the dorms to study which definitely curtails the residential college experience. Athletes who have practice indoors, theatre/music kids rehearsing indoors, will also need to mask - that’s not a return to normal.
A small local music venue was allowed to open at full capacity last weekend (100 seats). Everyone had to be vaccinated in order to attend. They did 2 shows on Friday and some wore masks the whole time, many did not and some ordered food and drinks. On Monday, they announced that a member of the band tested positive on Sunday before another show, despite being vaccinated. All members performed without masks on. All 200 people were told to get tested on Tuesday or Wednesday, regardless on how they felt. We are still waiting for community results and hoping all 200 actually went for testing.
Point is you can mandate vaccines and do testing but all it takes is one person. It is too early to know anything for sure, the data and science is still evolving. As I tell my D, you don’t know what you don’t know. I just read an article that talks about the number of immunocompromised people in the country (I feel like a broken record!) and you have no idea who they are - your student’s roommate, the janitor, the professor. At D’s school, everyone had to sign a commitment to community health to protect EVERYONE, encouraging them to think beyond themselves.