Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, colleges and universities across the nation have enacted a number of policies and implemented a variety of safety measures in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus and maintain the wellbeing of campus communities. As a University of Pennsylvania student journalist, freshman Liam Umbs describes his experience living in Philadelphia — a city where strict mask mandates were just recently lifted — and the ways in which reporting for the university’s student-run news organization has broadened his perspective.