McHenry County College to close Monday, Tuesday, conduct classes online after extended spring break

McHenry County College in Crystal Lake canceled classes for Monday and Tuesday and will be conducting classes remotely for the rest of the spring semester after an extended spring break.

The effort is part of the college’s additional steps to administer social distancing practices to limit the spread of COVID-19, MCC said.

“This continues to be an evolving situation, and the college is doing its part to limit the spread and minimize risk,” it said in a news release.

Although there will be no in-person or online classes Monday and Tuesday, MCC will be open, and all employees will report to work and be available for any student who wants one-on-one assistance, MCC said.

Spring break will begin Wednesday and end March 29, with no online or in-person classes during this time. MCC said the time off will give faculty and staff time to transition to full online delivery of classes after spring break.

“While the college will be completely closed during this extended spring break time frame, critical administration and staff will still be doing essential campus work remotely,” the college said.

All classes will resume March 30 and will be conducted in an online-only format. Classes are expected to remain online through the remainder of the spring semester, according to the college.

“To prepare for a seamless transition to this online format, additional training is available for both students and faculty,” MCC said. “While students will be attending class online, the college will remain open, continuing daily operations, and employees will continue their regular work schedules.”

Nathann Tran, a second-year student who’s working toward his associate degree in science, said the announcement wasn’t surprising.

“Other schools and universities are also closing,” Tran said. “I think it’s being a little over-dramatic, but I can see why everybody’s concerned because [in] schools there’s a lot of people. They don’t want it spreading.”

As someone who wants to major in biochemistry, Tran’s taking a lot of lab classes, which potentially could pose a challenge.

“A lot of professors are confused on how we are supposed to show different parts of the body if we’re not looking at a cadaver or a model of somebody’s face or limbs or something like that,” Tran said. “ They’re going to try to figure it out while on break, probably.”

Both professors and the college have been communicating about the situation well, Tran said.

First-year student Eric Rodriguez, who is studying to be a graphic designer, said like Tran, he wasn’t surprised about the news.

Other schools already were taking similar measures, and students had been spreading rumors that it was going to happen at MCC, too, he said.

Rodriguez said he prefers a live classroom environment.

“Online is not going to show you everything that it shows you in the regular classroom setting,” he said. “It’s just not the same thing.”

Liz Kienzle, a transition facilitator for Huntley School District 158’s LIGHT Team Lead program, said she has been working “around the clock” the past two days to make sure the needs of students she works with who attend MCC still are met, despite the different circumstances.

The LIGHT Team Lead program prepares special education students ages 18 to 22 for independent living, including supporting them with post-secondary education.

The program has two different groups of students who rotate days they’re at MCC, Kienzle said.

“We’re making sure we’re still meeting students’ [individualized education plans] and still meeting students’ needs, and making sure that students are still continuing toward meeting their post-secondary goals,” Kienzle said.

Registration is in a couple of weeks, and students Kienzle works with who are taking college classes at MCC are not able to register online. They have to do so in person, so Kienzle said she is collaborating with MCC to see how they’re going to complete the task.

As for the college classes for students in the program, Kienzle said they are working on finding a new meeting location while the rest of MCC works remotely.

“While the environment is going to change, the structure of the classes will remain the same,” she said.

Kienzle said she thinks students are resilient, even with all of the changes happening.

Evan Geske, a baseball player at MCC, said he thinks it was a smart move to move classes online.

“I saw the email and I was like, ‘Fair enough,’ ” Geske said, adding that it’s “going to be kind of hard to adjust to some of my classes [being] online.”

For instance, Geske is taking a yoga class this semester.

“I don’t know how to do that one [online],” he said.

Geske has a laptop and is able to work at home.

Still, “our lives are going to be put on hold for a while now,” he said.