Northern students going back to class

Montana State University-Northern hosted new student orientation Saturday to get ready for school starting. 

Classes started today with face-to-face instruction. 

Enrollment Management Vice Chancellor Maura Gatch said this past weekend was where students were able to get connected with all the resources on campus from student health to academic resources. 

She said that it gets the students really set off to start out on the right foot for the semester.

 "I'm incredibly excited," she said. "I'm just happy to see students' faces on campus this year. I will say March was a very hard transition for everyone who works here because we love working with students so much. So having the students back on campus it's been a huge, huge joy for everyone."

She added that she thinks it's going to be a great semester.

"I think with everything that has gone on and as painful as some of it has been, we have learned some really great practices to not only serve students, but kind of further our reach of our resources to reach students where they are at," Gatch said. "It's been incredibly challenging, but at the same time it's been incredibly rewarding. I think the semester is going to be great, the students have been awesome and excited to be here, their families have been excited, so I think it's a great weekend to start."

Northern student Katelyn Maloughney said she's excited to make her own stories because both of her parents attended Northern.

"I'm just excited," she said. "I really find positivity and people like meeting new people and making new friends, keeping the old ones too you can still do safely and still have fun with."

She said the COVID-19 restrictions going to be annoying, but at least they are able to go to school.

Northern student Savannah Dawson said she's excited to experience college life.

"I think Northern is taking the steps to keep everybody safe and we're just going to have the best year possible, and we've been adapting since March we're probably ready for the school year," she said.

Student Sawyer Zook said he is from Denver and that he is excited about this upcoming school year.

"It's going to be a new experience coming from a bigger city to a smaller town," he said.

He said with COVID-19 people just have to adapt and be cautious.

"I just think we have to adapt and go on with our lives, and just kind of be cautious about it, but don't let it stop us from doing what we need to do," Zook said.

Patrick Baalson said he is from Georgia, and he is both excited and nervous about this upcoming school year.

"I can't wait to see what this year has for me," he said. "For me, personally, I've been through the worst atrocities you can imagine. I've seen things, I've done things that no one should have to go through, so personally COVID doesn't really scare all that often. If what happened in my childhood didn't break me this isn't going to break me either."