Danner Hall has again become a hub of student life on campus.
For many students, this semester marked their first time in Danner, which closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, while others have had previous experiences.
Danner is important for many students because many can socialize with other students and also hang out with friends and others use it to do homework.
“I usually use Danner to do homework and also eat and hang out with friends. When I want to be productive I usually sit near the bar area where there’s a charger port so I can plug in my devices. If I am eating I’ll sit at the upper Danner near the tables,” said student Jamie Lynn Phan, a junior at Middle College High School.
Lynn Phan also said it is not her first time in the Danner.
“I was here in Danner before the pandemic. Before the pandemic being in Danner I would obviously feel more comfortable, we don’t have masks on so it wouldn’t be as stuffy, and before the pandemic when I was eating here with my mask off I wasn’t even wearing a mask back then I was very comfortable eating here being near people. Now I feel self-conscious when I’m eating just because I am scared to take off my mask around others when it’s a bit crowded so I would say the feeling that I get when I take my mask off and I’m eating around other people is different.”
Phan also said the amount of people before the Covid pandemic and now is still the same.
“People are more spread out a bit more in their little cluster of friend groups,” she said.
“Before the pandemic, if I was doing work I would do it with friends now with the pandemic I prefer to sit alone if I don’t have to sit with people.”
Renovations in the space during the shutdown included painting and the addition of more desk spaces for student use.
Student Julia Rosete said she normally doesn’t use Danner to do homework or hang out, instead, she only gets breakfast before class.
“Usually I just get breakfast or something before class starts if anything but other than that I don’t usually, I used to sometimes before covid. Usually, I just go home now. There’s not really much on campus right now so it’s kinda not as many people are around, so my friends who aren’t on campus that have classes usually hang out on campus,” she said.
Rosete also said before the pandemic Danner always drew a crowd.
“Danner was busy all the time like there were people everywhere. Seeing it now makes such a difference because there is nobody, it just seems like before it was chaotic and people were everywhere,” said Rosete.
A group of students Gianni Ambriz, Oscar Benitez, and Haley Chen, who are sophomores in Middle College High School said they visited the Danner Hall at the beginning of the school year.
“We were basically stuck at home last year so I was stuck in my room studying at my desk. I was pretty excited for Danner to reopen because usually I and my friends just come here to work on homework,” said Ambriz.
“If I have any questions about homework my friends are here I can ask them to see if they know,” he said.
The students also said it is easier to socialize with other people in Danner.
“Delta Middle College you’ll rarely find anyone that’s not friendly so you can easily just go up to someone and just talk to them even in small conversation and throughout the day you’ll see them again and say hi and from there you just start a connection and start being friends with anyone,” Benitez said.
The three students also said there is more motivation and less distraction to do homework in Danner.
“With Danner, there are a lot fewer distractions because here it’s just like you look and it’s just someone doing homework, you look the other way someone is doing homework but if you are like at home you’re like oh my bed is there that looks comfortable,” said Ambriz.
Chen agreed.
“If I am at Danner and I am with my friends or like the people around me are all studying and doing homework then I will also want to focus and do my homework as well because I think the environment you surround yourself in influences your behavior,” said Chen.
