It was March 9 at 9:30 a.m. in the TommieMedia newsroom. I came down after my editing class to watch the NCAA Division III men’s hockey selection show, to learn where I would be reporting in the first round of the tournament and to throw together a quick story about it for the site.

The weekend prior, I drove with a fellow reporter, Andres Tejeda, to the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud to cover a Tommie-Johnnie playoff game. Hearing the team shout “TommieMedia in the house!” upon our arrival made me grin from ear to ear.

The day before, I returned from Platteville, Wisconsin with reporter Joey Swanson after a weekend covering our men’s basketball team.

And, after the selection show, I was booked on a flight to Chicago for the following Saturday to cover the men’s hockey team against Lake Forest. I was excited to travel with the team and tell my story…until all hell broke loose.

The cancelations and postponements slowly came in as the week went on. Universities moved to online learning, the NBA and NHL put their seasons on hold, the NCAA canceled March Madness and the MIAC and St. Thomas canceled all spring sports.

Numerous hours were spent in the newsroom that week, helping out with stories about every piece of news that came in. Keeping my composure that week was difficult, but I did it — not without taking some time for myself, talking to my friends or even breaking down sometimes.

It really hit me when I felt my phone buzz, and I opened it to a text: “USTALERT St. Thomas announces it will start online classes on Monday, March 16th. Campus operations remain open. See email from President Sullivan for details.”

I had a meeting scheduled with my superiors to talk about how my trip to Chicago would work and how our reporters going to St. John’s to cover basketball would work. But the meeting concluded with news that we wouldn’t be going.

I understood. At this point, I would have felt uncomfortable getting on a plane to fly, with concerns revolving around COVID-19. I was sad, losing an opportunity to travel and tell a story from afar for my friends, classmates and community to read.

I walked out of the newsroom Friday afternoon and said “see you later” to the folks in there, not knowing it could have been the last time seeing them for a while.

I drove out of campus, thinking I’d be back in a month, but little did I know, I wouldn’t be back on campus the remainder of the semester.

That following Monday, we were all notified that we’d be online and working remotely for the rest of the semester. I’ll be honest, I broke down when I got that email. It was hard.

I’m losing out on being in the newsroom with the friends and coworkers I’ve grown close to. I’m losing out on covering spring sports. I’m losing out on seeing my classmates every day.

But I know this: we’re doing this, as the university says, for the common good.

I saw this TikTok—which I’ve been spending an ungodly amount of time on during quarantine—where someone explained that in the last “Harry Potter” book, Harry, Hermione and Ron had to drop everything to protect the school so that everyone after them could enjoy it and graduate from it. And guess what? We’re doing the same thing.

Our seniors are sacrificing graduation and their last spring sports season, our freshmen are sacrificing the second half of their first year in college and their first spring sports season, and everyone is sacrificing just being on campus or going out with friends.

When this is all over, I’m never taking for granted shaking someone’s hand, going to a sporting event, going to a concert, hanging out with my friends or going to a restaurant or dining hall with my friends ever again.

These are things we have to sacrifice right now so that the future generation can enjoy the full college experience, including the things that we don’t have right now. Being the extroverted person that I am, this is weird and different, but I know that I’m doing my part in slowing the spread.

So, while you’re sitting on your couch in your home, thinking you’re not doing much, think again. You’re doing a whole lot for the future generation, and we will be remembered as the generation that did a lot by merely sitting at home and not doing the things we’d normally be doing.

I’m thankful to have the opportunity to do everything I’ve done in my life, and I’ll be even more thankful doing the things I love when this is all over.

Justin Amaker can be reached at justin.amaker@stthomas.edu.