Sickness on campus causes unexpected absences

By MEGHAN HOLLAND, Staff Reporter |

Sickness has been spreading around the Amarillo College campuses, so many students have been missing class and falling behind in coursework.

“I’m pretty sure I had the flu because I had all the symptoms,” Mackenzie Farmer, a mass media major, said. “Luckily, I was only sick for less than a week.” 

Farmer said that she is only taking online classes this semester, so she is glad that she did not have to miss going to an actual class. 

Farmer said she had to rush to finish a few assignments and did not do as well as she would have liked to, but her professors were not aware that she was sick. “I did consider telling them and asking for an extension on my assignments, but I didn’t feel it was necessary. I’m not even sure they would have given me one if I had asked,” she said.

Lindsey Spruell, a social work major, said she had the flu twice and bronchitis once. She had to miss an entire week of classes and several assignments. “Most of the professors won’t let you make it up at all, so it puts you in a hard position,” Spruell said. 

“They want your health to be so good, but they don’t help you when you miss the work. They don’t help you try to catch up. As a person with a really bad immune system, I would love for a change to occur,” she said.

Students must prioritize either taking care of themselves or taking care of their schoolwork. “Ultimately, I think taking care of your own health is more important,” Farmer said. “If you are so worried about getting all of your assignments done and you don’t even take care of yourself, you’re more than likely going to crash at some point.” 

“It will probably be worse than if you were to spend a little time here and there taking a break and taking care of your health.”

Another student who had bronchitis, Madeline Filsouf, a psychology major, had to miss about four days’ worth of work. “The medicine I took made me super sleepy, so I couldn’t stay focused. Even going back to school the second week, my teachers would even notice that I just didn’t seem myself.” 

Filsouf said despite this problem, she did not fall behind in her course work. “I was lucky. I knew my professors beforehand. I doubt they would have been so understanding and accepting of my sickness if I had not gotten to meet with them before,” said Filsouf. “I caught up pretty fast.”

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