Campus News

‘Behind the Blue Special Edition’: Not On the Syllabus - UK Students Discuss Finishing a Semester in an Unlikely Way

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 9, 2020) — Like so many other colleges and universities around the country and world, the University of Kentucky was forced to close its campus and move classes to an online format in order to finish the spring 2020 semester, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Students living both on campus and off were resigned to finish their classes away from their classmates. Residence halls closed and students moved home, bringing an unexpected end to their on-campus experience for the 2019-20 academic year.

Now, as we move into a summer of all online classes, the university is currently working on plans to restart and welcome students back in the fall, but just how that will work is still under development.

Kelsey Hutchison is a junior arts administration and dance double-major from Cynthiana, Kentucky, Ben Branscum is a spring 2020 media arts and studies graduate from Stearns, Kentucky, and Keyera Jackson is a spring 2020 journalism graduate from Atlanta, Georgia.

On this week’s episode of ‘Behind the Blue,’ these three students share some of their experiences from this spring, along with their insight on how they made the best of a less-than-desirable situation.

"Behind the Blue" is available on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and Spotify. Become a subscriber to receive new episodes of “Behind the Blue” each week. UK’s latest medical breakthroughs, research, artists and writers will be featured, along with the most important news impacting the university.

For questions or comments about this or any other episode of "Behind the Blue," email BehindTheBlue@uky.edu or tweet your question with #BehindTheBlue. Transcripts for this or other episodes of Behind the Blue can be downloaded from the show’s blog page. You can watch a video version of this podcast here.

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As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.