Daniella Tebib
News Editor
dtebib@murraystate.edu
Two Murray State students were on a plane in Detroit, Michigan, ready to fly to Seoul, South Korea, when they received text messages telling them to get off of the plane immediately because their program had been canceled.
Over 80,000 cases of coronavirus have been reported worldwide and nearly 1,300 cases have been reported in South Korea. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention put out a level 3 travel advisory warning to avoid nonessential travel.
Carrie Owen, sophomore from Henderson, Kentucky, and Austin Coursey, sophomore from Russellville, Kentucky, arrived in Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday, Feb. 20, for their 8:55 a.m. flight. Neither student had ever flown on a plane or even been in an airport before and were already overwhelmed with nerves. They later arrived in Detroit, Michigan, for one of their connecting flights and boarded the plane during their 20-minute layover just to find out they were no longer going to study abroad for a semester in South Korea.
Coursey said they discovered their program was canceled because he decided to check his phone while they still had a few minutes before the plane was going to take off. After deactivating airplane mode, he received numerous texts from his parents and an unknown number telling him and Owen to get off of the plane immediately.
“I immediately showed Carrie the messages and we got off of the plane, silent and devastated,” Coursey said.
After rushing off the plane, Coursey said he called the unknown number from Murray State and Melanie McCallon Seib, director of education abroad, was on the other line. Coursey said McCallon Seib assured him everything was going to be okay, but the trip had been canceled because of a coronavirus outbreak in Daegu, South Korea.
“There weren’t any tears from me,” Coursey said. “I was mostly in shock. I knew that the coronavirus was a thing that existed and it was causing some problems, but I never expected my exchange program to not work out. I was scared that this would affect my graduation date because I would be missing a semester of college and I was dreading the cramped plane ride home.”
Owen said their orientation had already been canceled at Korea University and the semester had been delayed, but she never expected the entire program to get canceled.
“This was both of our first flights ever, so we were already pretty flustered and confused,” Owen said. “I didn’t say much when I found out. We were just kind of in shock and survival mode… I didn’t cry until I had to call my mom to tell her. I really, really didn’t want to go home… It was a pretty dark couple of days.”
The University paid for both Coursey and Owen’s plane tickets back home.
“At home, I spoke with many people from Murray State and they advised me to get back in classes this semester,” Coursey said. “They worked with me on the financial side of things and the academic side of things. Everyone was extremely helpful and understanding.”
Coursey and Owen arrived back on campus on Monday, Feb. 24. Both students have been able to enroll in courses and are still on track to graduate on time.
“I am taking 12 credit hours, and I just jumped right into classes,” Coursey said. “I am lucky that all of my professors are working with me to help me catch up and make up anything I missed. I should be able to graduate on time, but I still have to study abroad to fulfill the honors requirement, so I don’t know if that will affect it.”
Coursey said his transition back to campus life has gone smoothly so far because of the help from the University.
“The Education Abroad office has worked with all of the other departments on campus like housing, bursar and registrar to make sure it was a smooth transition,” Coursey said.
Despite their program being canceled, they still hope to study abroad in the future. Coursey said their layover in Detroit was the farthest he has ever been from home.
“This has been a terrible situation, but I still think studying abroad would be an amazing experience,” Coursey said. “I would like to do a semester still if possible. I also am, as far as I know, still required to do it in some form.”
Because of the recent outbreaks of the coronavirus worldwide, the University issued a coronavirus update on Wednesday, Feb. 26, following an update from the Center for Disease Control warning Americans to prepare for a possible outbreak.
“Murray State University continues to proactively monitor and assess the spread of the Coronavirus as it relates to the health and well-being of our campus community. Currently, faculty, staff and student travel to and from China and South Korea is temporarily suspended,” according to the update.
To ensure the safety of students on campus, the University is going to continue to review all scheduled study abroad programs and programs to campus from foreign countries.
“We are hopeful to resume normal travel schedules in the very near future in furtherance of important academic and cultural opportunities and exchanges,” according to the update.
Natalie Howard, sophomore from Carmi, Illinois, is supposed to leave on March 29 to spend a semester abroad in Tokyo, Japan, but she isn’t sure if her program will be canceled or not. Howard said she has been in contact with the Education Abroad office to come up with a back-up plan in case the program is canceled.
“Even just a week ago, I wasn’t really all that worried about my study abroad being canceled,” Howard said. “But the news of South Korea study abroad cancelations and the CDC raising the Japan travel advisory, I’ve been getting pretty anxious about my program. I really don’t want it to get canceled since it has been my dream to visit Japan for many years, but I know that if the coronavirus spreads much more in Tokyo and other parts of Japan that I will have to postpone my study abroad there.”
Howard said she’s holding out hope that she will be able to study abroad still, but if not she plans to travel to Japan next year.
She has been working with the Education Abroad office and her family to develop a plan B. If the Japan study abroad program is canceled, Howard plans to take 12 or more credits over the summer.
Amid the continuous updates of worldwide coronavirus outbreaks, some Murray State students are currently abroad.
Camryn Clift, junior from Princeton, Kentucky, is currently studying abroad in Alicante, Spain. She said fear is consuming Europe because of the worldwide outbreak, but she is not currently worried for her personal safety.
“There hadn’t been much worry about the coronavirus until two days ago actually, but now with the steadily increasing issue in Italy there has been a bit more hysteria,” Clift said. “There are cases in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia as I understand it… The media coverage here would instill panic into anyone. It’s very doom and gloom, and the mood behind it all lends a hand to fanning the flames of fear.”
Stay tuned with The News as we follow how the coronavirus will affect campus.