Safely Together

Campus Life Returns This Fall

Pairs of students hovered over kits filled with glass pipettes and beakers in a chemistry lab. Across campus, animal science students gathered outdoors in front of stacked hay bales to hear about expectations for the semester, with a cow mooing periodically in the background.

A small group clustered in Aratani Japanese Garden, while a few students sat on benches in the Rose Garden and others strolled along the pathways near the residence halls.

After more than a year of primarily virtual classes and events, the sights and sounds of university life returned to Cal Poly Pomona on Aug. 19, the first day of a new academic year. This fall, Cal Poly Pomona is offering more than 5,470 classes in various forms — about 2,900 online, 2,190 hybrid with some in-person instruction and 370 fully in-person.

It’s a welcome feeling for Neelam Mistry, a mechanical engineering sophomore. Mistry spent her freshman year living at home with her parents and sister in Placentia, taking her courses remotely. Now, she lives on campus and takes in-person, hybrid and fully online classes.

“Getting more involved will help me feel more comfortable on campus,” said Mistry, who joined several clubs and programs virtually last year, including Rose Float, Women in Engineering, Engineers Without Borders, Maximizing Engineering Potential and Kellogg Honors College.

Rachel Flores, a lecturer in the nutrition and food science program and director of the Dietetic Internship Program, teaches an online general education class and also a hybrid class that meets in person about once a week.

Flores, a dietitian of 21 years and an alumna (’93, history; ’15, master’s in nutrition), said she enjoys the physical activity that comes with teaching and navigating campus. Being in the classroom allows her to hear students’ discussions and make sure they stay on track.

“With Zoom, it is so easy to be quiet and hard to see how engaged students are,” Flores said. “When we’re in person, those students who are just a little quieter are most likely to pawrticipate in discussion and ask questions.”

Senior Cristian Chaidez said he relishes the opportunity to come to campus for two hybrid classes and to work as a tutor for the Reading, Advising and Mentoring Program (RAMP). “I am feeling very optimistic,” said the computer engineering student. “I feel that this is a great way of returning back to the norm, sitting in a class and having professors answer your question right then and there. You don’t have to send an email. I also truly miss being able to come out of class and seeing a friend or someone you know from a class and being able to hang out with them.”