Arguably one of the worst global health crises in the 21st century, there are currently over 80,000 confirmed cases of the Coronavirus worldwide. While vast regions in China, Korea, Japan and even Italy are being shut down in an effort to contain the spread of the virus, here in the Midwest, much of the news about Coronavirus has become background noise. 

In fact, even the most well intentioned of us are struggling to keep up with the emergence of new epicenters, fear mongering and economic consequences. But for William Jewell College alumna Kellsie Herrmann (‘19), the Coronavirus has been all too real. 

After graduating last May, Herrmann accepted a volunteer position with the Peace Corps and committed to spending two years in Chongqing, China teaching English and American culture to college students. 

During her first eight months on the ground, Herrmann enjoyed getting to know local customs and trying local foods, as well as seizing the opportunity to travel through China and other Asian countries. 

However, 2020 has proven tumultuous. With very little warning, the Peace Corps volunteers in China were sent back to the United States, and Herrmann’s time in the country was cut short. 

In mid-January, during annual In-Service Training, volunteers received two startling announcements. First, the Peace Corps headquarters had decided to “graduate” the China program, meaning they intended to phase out the program over the next 1.5 years, officially ending service in China in 2021. Second, there was a weird new virus in Wuhan, a city in the Hubei province.

At the time, Peace Corps volunteers didn’t spend much time dwelling on the Wuhan virus, and the news of the program’s “graduation” was much more devastating. Volunteers had become closely attached to the program and were committed to the mission of building authentic relationships between Chinese and U.S. citizens. 

As the outbreak began during school-holidays, Herrmann’s day-to-day life was minimally impacted, and the threat of the virus hardly felt real. 

“I just…wore a mask when I went out, used more germX […] no restaurants were open,” Herrmann said. “In Xi’an there’s this big muslim food street, and it’s super famous. It was open the first day, but not at all busy, and the next day it was closed down.”

Yet for Chinese people who are entirely reliant on the local economy and don’t have the safety net of the U.S. government – like the Peace Corps volunteers – the effects of the virus were more immediately devastating. 

“Stores were closing, their businesses… they couldn’t open them, or didn’t open them,” Herrmann said. “[Many of them] didn’t leave their house, still don’t. School has been pushed back until probably March, usually it’s started already.”.  

Despite rumors, Herrmann and the other volunteers found solace in the fact that they would be permitted to finish out their term and remain in China until the summer of 2021. 

Just weeks later, the Peace Corps team were again met with startling news. As the Coronavirus continued to spread, all volunteers in China were to be evacuated to Bangkok, Thailand to the regional Peace Corps office. Initially this was believed to be a temporary measure, but within three days in Thailand, Herrmann and her team were told they would be sent back to the U.S. by the end of the week. 

“People who are more pessimistic, like me, thought it was going to happen…” said Herrmann. “But others, they were still trying to think positive.”

In the past – namely during the SARs pandemic – the Peace Corps simply suspended the service of volunteers for approximately 1.5 years and then resumed operations in China. That was the timeline Herrmann had in mind, so the rapid decision to close the volunteers’ service was shocking for even the pessimists of the group. 

“Three days after everyone had consolidated in Bangkok they did a video conference with our country director, who was still in China, and he was like ‘yeah, we are going to go ahead and close your service’ […] ‘this is now a C.O.S. [Close of Service] conference,’” recalled Herrmann. “They helped [us] with our resumes, they tried to help us figure out how to tell our Peace Corps story for future employers, but also for friends and family. There was a lot of reverse culture shock, especially for us because things were so sudden.”

Herrmann, who was already in Thailand traveling with a group of friends when they received the call to consolidate in Bangkok, reflects on being completely torn from the work she was doing. 

“It’s tough, we didn’t get to say goodbye [and] there’s no closure.” said Herrmann. “All of my stuff – my computer, my clothes – is still in China […] I probably won’t see that for five to six months.”

For Herrmann, while the sudden end to her service in China has been uprooting, she reflected that for the people still on the ground the impacts have been immeasurable. 

“The disruption that Chinese people have, and still are, going through is outrageous,” Herrmann said. “People in America can’t really relate because we’ve never been told: ‘don’t leave your house, there isn’t any food available, if you do leave your house wear a mask. People think of it in terms of the numbers, like the amount of people who are infected or who died. When in reality, yes that’s bad and important, but it’s like people’s lives – they can’t work, they can’t take care of their family, they can’t go to school… they’re sitting at home, in tiny little apartments, for days and days and days. I can’t imagine how terrible that is [and] there’s no end in sight.” 

For Herrmann, the people she left behind are the people she’s thinking about as the Coronavirus contains to spread. 

“I think about my students and my colleagues a lot, because…I could leave and they can’t,” she said. 

As of Feb. 27, over 83,000 cases of the Coronavirus have been confirmed worldwide. Of those cases, 2,856 people have died and 36,424 have been declared completely recovered from the virus. Updates on cases recorded can be found through the online tracker provided by John Hopkins university.

The Hilltop Monitor spoke to Kellsie Herrmann, senior political science, international relations and French major, about her experiences at William Jewell College and the opportunities she’s taken advantage of while at the institution.

Herrmann spoke about the  time she spent abroad during the spring semester of her junior year, at the Sorbonne in Paris, France.

“It was amazing. I think everyone should do some stint abroad — the longer the better. Because it really, I know a lot of people say this, but it really does open up your eyes to things that you never really think about and just put things into perspective of what’s important and what isn’t, and how to enjoy life and how to not just have things on a check marked list and just go down the list,” Herrmann said. “I think I really learned how to live life to the fullest there, which I know is really cliché and I’m a little embarrassed but ‘tis true.”

Immediately after coming home from France, Herrmann found it difficult to re-adjust to her life in the United States.

“Coming back was pretty tough, initially, because Missouri is not Paris, France, and also just not having the opportunity of doing something new and fun and exciting each and every day is just really heartbreaking. Because this day could be the most boring and monotonous day ever, but in the end I’m in Paris, France. The signs are in a different language, and the people are speaking different languages and I’m in a city — which is different from Liberty, Missouri,” she said. “So just recognizing that every day here, while it’s different because you have friends and family and culture that you know and feel comfortable with it’s still kind of boring — for lack of a better word — and coming back to that is a little hard sometimes.”

However, Herrmann was quick to note that people don’t have to be abroad to seek out adventures. Above all, she believes it is important to put one’s self outside of their comfort-zone and everyday life.

“I view the college experience, at least in the academic way, as you have this set amount of time to get as much out of it as possible. You’re already paying for the classes, you’re already paying for the books and everything, so you might as well put all your being into getting as much as possible,” she said. “So, forcing myself to take classes that are difficult, that are not going to be easy and I’m not going to have a great time doing them, but then looking back on that experience and being like ‘now I know these things and that’ll help me just a little more in life and in my own personal goals of how I want to live that life.’”

Herrmann was quick to point out that growth while in college does not only come from academic experiences.

“You have the typical things like taking on leadership experiences, joining a sorority, doing that crazy bar hopping at Power and Light which is over-expensive and weird but you do it anyway because you’ve never bar hopped before. Just doing things that are kind of weird and ‘why not’ because you’ve never done it before and who’s to say what you do and don’t like,” said Herrmann.

Herrmann plans to continue to step outside of her comfort zone after she graduates — primarily by joining the Peace Corps. She also spoke about how her time at Jewell has impacted her post-college plans.

“That [joining the Peace Corps] honestly wasn’t affected by Jewell just because I’ve wanted to do that since high school. Jewell does have this fun way of mixing things up in a way you don’t really expect. In the path I’ve chosen at Jewell I’ve experienced a lot and put myself in different atmospheres and zones of comfort, which I think is really important in college,” Herrmann said. “I came into school thinking I wanted to be in a foreign service officer in the state department but now I’m like ‘Hmm, maybe I’ll join the military or maybe I’ll do United Nations work or maybe I’ll just teach high school history for the rest of my life, I don’t know.’ But before coming to school I was definitely structured — like five, 10, 15, 20 year plans — and just recognizing that it’s okay to be kind of in the unknown and that has its own glamour in a way.”

The crux of Herrmann’s value system can be summarized by her closing thoughts.

“Putting yourself in uncomfortable positions is super important to grow as a person.”

Photos by Hannah Koehler