Vol State Reopening Campuses Next Monday

Volunteer State Community College will reopen its Cookeville and Livingston campuses July 20.

Coordinator of Public Relations Eric Melcher said visitors will have to take precautions when coming to campus.

“The big thing that folks will have to do if they come to campus is to, first of all, wear a face mask,” Melcher said. “We require that at all times on all of our campuses. We also require an online screening form be filled out before people come and luckily that can be done really easily on your phone.”

Melcher said most summer classes are still online, so reopening campuses is a way to help students get prepared for the fall. However, he said the online options will remain robust for the fall semester.

“Most of our classes will be online this fall,” Melcher said. “We made that switch about a month or so ago. We realized that things would be problematic with COVID-19 cases in Tennessee. We’ll have some in-person classes, but we’re reserving those for the ones that have important hands-on activities as part of the class. We’re keeping those classes limited, so it limits the number of people on campus, and that helps keep everyone safer.”

Melcher said in addition to wearing masks and filling out the form, screeners will be at each building to make sure visitors are in compliance with the safeguards. Vol State began to restrict visitation in March. Since then visits have been by appointment only.

Since campuses were without students for so long, Melcher said he feels that welcoming everyone back is a special moment for the school.

“It really is a grand reopening for the college,” Melcher said. “Even though we’ve been teaching online very successfully now last spring and summer, it’s been going well.”

Melcher said students should feel free to come to any of Vol State’s four campuses for any help with enrollment, financial aid, or selecting classes.