Apr 7, 2020 4 min read

Jordan F. Templeton Harris was planning to take a job teaching English in southern China this summer, after he graduates from Washington & Jefferson College next month.

That’s no longer his plan.

He and his girlfriend signed one-year contracts in the fall, a month or so before cases of the novel coronavirus started making the news after originating in Wuhan, China, a city in another part of that country, and then spreading across much of the world.

“We were concerned about travel restrictions and us possibly not being allowed to return to the United States, given how much trouble this virus was causing just in mid-February” said Templeton Harris.

The 21-year-old is one of many seniors who are graduating from colleges and universities across the country amid the global pandemic. For many of them, restrictions on travel and widespread business closures meant to help slow the spread of the virus have also added another challenge as they plan their futures.

Brieanna Sutherland, a 22-year-old from Erie County, is one of 350 students in W&J’s class of 2020 who are finishing their coursework remotely. In Sutherland’s case, she’s staying with the family of her fiancé in the Lehigh Valley while she’s taking her last five classes.

She landed a job offer from a marketing company, but a possible setback is that she would have to move for this job.

“That’s where my uncertainty lies right now,” she said. “I would have to move from Erie to Philadelphia. … I need an apartment, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to get one until right before my potential starting date would be.”

She said that company is ready to bring her on when it’s able to return to its offices, but it’s unclear when that will be.

“I think everyone’s kind of like, ‘What do I do now,’ because there’s so much uncertainty,” Sutherland said. “All of the people I’ve talked to, we feel like we’re in a limbo. We were supposed to be spending this time enjoying this time because we really have to dig in, and now, it’s like, ‘I don’t know where I’m going. I don’t know where I’m living.'”

Templeton Harris and his girlfriend are now looking for jobs in Los Angeles, near his hometown of Long Beach, Calif. He has a prospect with Northrop Grumman, but said the outbreak is so bad in Los Angeles he’s not sure if it will force him to change that plan.

Meanwhile, post-secondary institutions are doing their best to ease the impact of the epidemic on students’ careers.

W&J spokesperson Erin Jones said the college moved all classes online for the remainder of the term. Seniors will graduate on time in mid-May, however, the college isn’t planning to have its commencement ceremony until the weekend of July 31, if it’s able to hold the event then.

Similarly, California University of Pennsylvania spokesperson Christine Kindl said the state-owned university was able to arrange for students to finish almost all courses online this term. Staff, including university career counselors and the library services office, are working with students remotely.

There are about 1,100 seniors this year.

“Most of our students, we expect, will be able to graduate on time,” she said.

Ashley Wise, a spokesperson for Waynesburg University, said the school was taking similar measures to help 450 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students who are supposed to finish their courses this year.

“We are providing curriculum options so students can complete the required content within the existing academic calendar,” Wise said. “All students will be provided with opportunities to complete their courses, academic plans and degree programs.”

One Cal. U. student said so far the pandemic hasn’t ended his plans to work for the National Park Service. Alex Arnold, 21, is from McClellandtown, Fayette County, whose activities included being a student member of the Council of Trustees during his time in school.

He has a job lined up at Gateway National Recreation Area in Sandy Hook, N.J., and is set to start work in May.

“As of now, the way they’re doing it is a park-by-park basis,” he said. “At Gateway … they do still have the park open. The beaches and the facilities are closed, but the beaches and the hiking trails and things like that are open still.”