Graphic by Christine Watridge | Student Life

We came up with the idea for this podcast one night, at about 11 p.m., sitting on the floor of our dorm common room. We were having one of those typical pandemic discussions, remarking on the now-unremarkable facts of the world we lived in—how bizarre COVID-19 had rendered our college lives—when we had the idea to try and capture this feeling we and others were having on tape, to truly unravel what the pandemic has been like on Washington University’s campus this year. 

So we did, paying tribute to our favorite podcast, This American Life, in the process. Over the final weeks of the spring semester, we listened to Wash. U. students, administrators and doctors recall what it was like to make friends six feet away, test positive for COVID, make school-wide decisions and muddle through new and unexpected obstacles. 

The result was three podcast episodes, covering a few common themes that summed up the weirdness and despair and hopefulness we have all been feeling. With vaccine rollout in the past six months chipping away at the COVID-19 style of life in the United States, we hope that Looking Back will serve as a record of the pandemic year(s) at Wash. U. Enjoy!

— Jared Adelman and Olivia Poolos, Staff Reporter and Senior Scene Editor

You can read a transcript of the first episode here.

You can read a transcript of the second episode here.

You can read a transcript of the third episode here.

See more Student Life multimedia work:

The Class of 2021 in their own words

WU in Focus podcast: What a year of remote learning was like for international students