From the University of Hawaii holding classes online to public and private school trips and events canceled, students and educators around Maui County are feeling the effects of the evolving COVID-19 pandemic.

UH’s 10 campuses statewide, including UH-Maui College, will move to a temporary online delivery of courses beginning March 23, the first day of instruction after spring break. If a class needs to continue to be taught face to face, students will be informed after approval by the campus.

In-person courses are scheduled to resume April 13, according to a news release. But UH officials said they will continue to evaluate the restart date.

UH President David Lassner said at a news conference Thursday afternoon that the changes and decisions “are hard . . . are impactful.” But the university is “committed to helping all of our students complete their semester.”

Lassner said the campuses will remain open, including the libraries. Those students who do not have online access will be able to go on campus for access at computer labs or the library, he added.

No decisions have been made regarding commencement exercises, Lassner said.

Public and private high schools in Maui County are being impacted by COVID-19, including those with travel plans to the Mainland. The schools are making preparations for possible closures due to the spread of the virus, as well.

On Thursday morning, nearly 30 Maui intermediate school students were stuck in their vacation rental homes near Washington, D.C., as the 2020 Student Television Network convention was canceled at the last minute due to COVID-19 concerns.

The public school students were already in Washington, D.C., when the state Department of Education on Thursday announced it was canceling school and department-related travel to the U.S. Mainland and international destinations.

Maui Waena teacher Jennifer Suzuki, who brought 24 students with her, said the whole experience feels like a dream from which she needs to wake up.

“This cannot be, I’ve been doing this for 10 years,” Suzuki said she was thinking when hearing of the cancellation.

The STN convention was canceled Wednesday after Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser advised that nonessential events should not be held if it involved more than 1,000 people, Suzuki said. The student convention expected more than 3,000 students in addition to teachers and chaperones.

Suzuki’s group, which includes students from Lahaina Intermediate, did go to the convention site to drop off goodie bags and Hydro Flasks that they brought as gifts.

Because her students are young, Suzuki said she has them stay together in a rental home rather than in hotels. They are eating their meals in a home setting and keeping busy by making videos and documenting the news going on.

A video of the students showed them cooking Spam and eating rice.

Thursday night, Suzuki was planning to take students to see the monuments; they will be practicing social distancing, she said.

Suzuki said students and their families fundraised and dished out $3,000 each for the trip. Most students were concerned about how hard their families worked to pay for the travel.

Fortunately, Suzuki said they were not charged for flight changes because she is trying to get students home earlier on Monday, instead of March 21. Other groups had to pay large airline change fees to go home earlier, she said.

Trips for Maui County school teams who earned eligibility to robotics world competitions on the Mainland also were dashed. Molokai Robotics Coach Edwin Mendija was bummed over not being able to take his students to the 2020 VEX World Championships in April in Kentucky.

But he’s glad he relied on his intuition and did not book flights earlier. He said he told himself that flights could be cheaper later or the competition could be canceled.

Mendija said the group did raise “a pretty good amount” to head to the Mainland. They will use the money for other team events or supplies.

The group’s other robotics program, FIRST, has suspended its season. A competition was to be held on Oahu next week.

With robotics programs on pause, the Molokai students will be occupied with other local events and presentations to the community.

“We got stuff to do at least. It’s really sad, honestly, for all that work in building and programming. It’s hard, it’s really hard. There is a lot we had to look forward to,” Mendija said.

At Seabury Hall, the school canceled two Mainland trips scheduled for this and next week, said Kaimana Brummel, director of advancement. The school’s chorus, with about 20 students, was headed to Disneyland in California.

The trip was canceled before the theme park announced Thursday its closure to begin Saturday through the end of the month. California state officials recommended that gatherings of more than 250 people be canceled.

Also, a dozen students were headed to New York City for a dance trip next week. They were going to a workshop at Barnard College, which has since closed due to COVID-19. Students also were headed to Broadway shows, which also have been shuttered, Brummel said.

Brummel said the school was proactive in canceling the trips prior to the major facility and event cancellations on the Mainland.

Seabury will be on its two-week spring break beginning Monday with students scheduled to return March 30. Over the past two weeks, the school has been working on its distance learning program, which involves an online platform, where students would log on when their normal class times begin. Students, who do not have computers, will be provided laptops and internet access.

Brummel said the annual craft fair scheduled May 9 is still on, and a final determination will not be made until at least April 1.

At Maui Preparatory Academy in Napili, Head of School Robert Landau said the school could move into a distance learning mode if needed, although none of that has been decided. It features a cloud-based application so teachers can also have face time with students. Even physical education teachers and school counselors can interact remotely with students.

The school also postponed an annual trip to Japan for a group of 20, which included students and parents.

Landau said the school is monitoring the situation “day by day.”

For now, the school’s grand opening of its Bozich Center for Athletics and Performing Arts is still on for March 28.

At Kamehameha Schools Maui, Scott Parker, po’o kula, said in a statement Thursday afternoon that no school closures are anticipated at this time.

“We will be prepared in the event state health officials or the school’s administration deem this action necessary for the health and safety of our KS Maui community. Communication to families, faculty and staff will be made via email, the school website, school messenger alerts and official school social media channels.”

But if a closure is necessary, Parker said they will initiate a K-12 Distance Learning Plan.

For now, the school has decided not to have its students travel this weekend to participate in a track meet in Hilo. All school-related international and U.S. domestic travel has been canceled for the remainder of the school year for students.

Spring break will still run from Monday to March 20. But March 23 will be a teacher workday to prepare teachers in case online instruction is needed, Parker said. Students will remain on break that day.

But April 17, a staff in-service day, will be turned into a regular school day for students, he added.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.