WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The first few weeks of college for Abigail Grimes, is certainly not what she expected.
"I think it was just really frustrating honestly is the one word that comes to mind," said Grimes.
The Winston-Salem native moved into her dorm at NC State University on August 4, excited and ready to take on her nutrition major, and eventually pick up a minor in Arabic.
It was just a mere three weeks later, the school announced students will have to move out of their dorms after the "quickly rising number of positive cases of COVID-19."
Grimes described emotional rollercoaster she went through in the first few weeks of the school year.
"It was like, 'OK this is gonna happen. This is gonna be really good, and then just a lot of disappointment afterwards,'" said Grimes. "It was just like, 'Bam! You're going home.'"
Grimes said she feels blessed that disappointment is her biggest problem. She knows her other friends aren't as lucky as she is, to live just a few hours away from the university.
"One of my best friends he’s an RA and lives in New Jersey. So he doesn’t really have an option to go home right now his cars too small to even move home so he doesn’t know what to do," she said, "Another friend of mine is from Nigeria and he’s like I have nowhere to go and not enough money to get an apartment so there’s definitely a lot of uncertainty more so than even just the emotional or school aspect of it.
Grimes said she wishes the outcome was different but still wants to be sensitive to the situation.
"I don’t think it’s smart to bring socially starved 18-year-olds to a place, ask them not to become friends with anyone, and then the second they get all sick send them home to immunocompromised family members. I don’t feel like that’s a safe or prudent way to treat students and I don’t think that’s fair," she said.
Her next journey is unique and unlike most. Instead of staying home and completing her nutrition classes online, she'll be continuing missionary work while going to a bible school in Hawaii. She leaves in 9 days.
"It was really hard, but I feel like the Lord gave me so much provision and my family gave me a lot of support and it just became pretty clear that this might not be an opportunity that I can have again," she said, "Knowing myself as a learner as a student as an individual it wouldn’t be a very prudent year for me if I were to stay home and do online school that’s just not how I’m gonna be able to learn. That’s not how I’m gonna be able to engage."
Grimes will be deferring admissions until the spring. She's hoping at that point, the school will allow students to come back.
"I doubt we will, but that's the hope," she said.
NC State said students in university housing have to schedule a time to move out starting Thursday, unless an exception is granted.
"We’re committed to working with all of our on-campus residents closely in the days ahead to ensure a safe move-out process," said NC State in a statement on its website.
The university said students will receive prorated refunds for unused portions of housing and dining for the fall semester.