Roudtable discussion reviews Lane College’s success amid pandemic

JACKSON, Tenn. — It has been over a year since COVID-19 first brought the world to a standstill.

Dr. Logan Hampton, president of Lane College, says they were no exception.

“What we do is invite the student to come to Lane, to live in residence halls, to go to chapel, to have their lives touched by faculty. COVID-19 said that ain’t happening,” he said.

Hampton says they took every precaution, but still had a small spike of cases in the middle of the 2020 fall semester. So they decided to go completely virtual for two weeks.

“We went from that 18 and completely flattened that curve,” he said. “For the rest of the semester, we were one, maybe three, but we were zero for about nine of the 16 weeks in the fall semester.”

The pandemic exposed a new way of life, one that Lane College students and staff took in full stride.

“They transformed the strategies in a two week period and continued to deliver on our promise,” Hampton said.

He says after finding creative ways to work around the pandemic, some things may not go back to normal.

“I anticipate and expect that we will have a number of faculty members who make their decision to teach, theirs could be face-to-face class online,” Hampton said.

Hampton says he is honored to be a part of a college that has been able to shine in a moment of darkness.

Since the release of the COVID-19 vaccine, Lane College students and staff say they are ready to take on any new challenges in 2021.