College During Covid - A Conversation With The Fem Word Team
By: Avery DeLacey
Covid-19 is causing a major life adjustment for everyone right now. The whole world is affected by it in some capacity. People are dying, losing their jobs, staying confined to their homes - just about everyone’s lives have been disrupted.
The majority of society may not pay much mind to the complaints college students have expressed lately in regard to the crisis, simply because everyone is experiencing some difference in their lives. College students are struggling in many more ways than simply being unable to attend class in person, however.
Today I’ll share stories from some of The Fem Word’s team about how Covid is affecting their college experiences.
Avery is a junior at Elon University in North Carolina where she is currently living and taking hybrid classes.
“I have struggled with anxiety my entire life, but have always found it manageable. I’ve never had too much trouble finding things that make me happy and calm me down. But, this semester has been different.
First, I’ll start off with the fact that I was supposed to go abroad to Florence, Italy for the Fall semester, and it’s something I had been looking forward to my whole life. A main part of why I chose Elon in the first place was because of their study abroad program. But, I adjusted and decided to stay at Elon for the Fall. Everything seems like it should be fine, I live with my 3 best friends in a beautiful apartment and I have internships and clubs and classes to keep me busy. But, nothing is normal on campus. So many of the reasons I’ve always loved Elon have been ripped away and my anxiety has skyrocketed.
My main anxieties stem from the fact that I do not recognize the campus I’m on anymore. My peers are getting suspended left and right, I’m terrified to hang out with any of my friends that I don’t directly live with simply because of the fact that I don’t want to get in trouble. I am constantly fearful that my school will switch to fully online classes and everyone on campus will be sent home and I am simply not an online learner. I’m struggling to keep up with my course load while I have no on-campus places to study and only one in-person class.”
Sara is in grad school at Virginia Commonwealth University where they are taking all online classes. Their school is offering in-person classes but Sara was unable to move to Richmond so they are taking classes virtually.
“I am not an online learner, I definitely have to be in the environment of a campus to learn effectively. I'm making it, but AVL is not a great spot for studying history. The archival resources in Richmond and the surrounding areas alone make it a great spot for study - and I can't access the graveyards in the area I was planning to study, as material culture through graves is one of my interests. It's been hard to complete the insane amounts of reading at home when I've always gone to coffee shops or libraries. It is definitely a high stress situation as I've also lost my assistantship that was going to pay for my tuition, so I am working part time as well.”
Meera is a first year at Georgetown University and all of her classes are online, so she is living at home.
“I’m not too happy about my general experience. It’s hard to complete all of my academic work when there’s no balance, and most of my classes are still rigourous. Most freshmen are living at home so there’s not really much going on socially.
It’s very hard being online as a freshman and living at home because I don’t have much to do socially (except spend time with a few high school friends who are also staying home) so there is not much of a work-life balance for me right now. I’m able to join some clubs and meet people that way, but it’s still online and not the same as seeing people face-to-face.”
Natasha is in her first year of law school at The University of Miami where she is attending hybrid classes.
“It’s definitely interesting being a first year in grad school and not being able to really connect with people IRL - it definitely takes more initiative, effort and planning. Campus is pretty quiet. Everyone has to wear masks 100% of the time while on campus, so that's been an adjustment too. Even with masks on in class though, I prefer in-person a million times over online. But surprisingly, online has had its own set of pros. One of my classes is actually a hybrid class in that it is asynchronous, so the professor pre-records lessons, videos, lectures, etc. and then we just meet IRL for 50 min once a week to discuss and ask questions.
I’ve felt a little lost at times since in grad school there is already minimal handholding, so having to search for answers or reach out to strangers/peers I don't know when I have a question has been an adjustment. Overall, I'm glad I decided to still come to campus despite the limitations. Also the restrictions when it comes to socializing have been a low key blessing in terms of not being as distracted as I probably would be if Miami was fully open and back to "normal". We still have a 10 P.M. city-wide curfew here, so aside from the occasional outdoor dinners with friends it’s been a lot of studying, walks, and Netflix.”
Saira is a first year at the University of Michigan where she is taking classes in person and online.
“I am living on campus in a dorm. I’m in Mary Markley Hall which are the smallest dorms with the most people. I also have a roommate so it gets tricky when we have classes and someone has to talk or it is in the morning and the other roommate wakes up because of the other’s class. The dorms are also tiny and it gets claustrophobic doing work in the room all day.
The academic environment is definitely taking time to get used to. Zooms make it so much harder to connect with classmates and professors. Everyone is super uncomfortable because no-one wants to share on zoom with people they’ve never met.
I think that it’s definitely harder to make friends than it would have been in previous years. There are so many restrictions that it’s difficult to get to know more people than the ones in my dorm or even on my floor. We also didn’t get a welcome week or in-person orientation, which made it 10x harder to meet people.
I’m so nervous about getting in trouble for hanging out with friends in dorms because of the regulations. My stress has definitely gone up because I haven’t done intense school work like this since the beginning of March, so going to college is a huge adjustment with classes as well as social life during Covid-19. Adjusting to the "new normal" is going to take time, but overall I think I have done a good job with trying to make the most of my experience and at realizing that all college freshmen are going through the same things I am. It really sucks, but we have three more years of college to look forward to.”
If you too are dealing with added anxiety and stress due to Covid-19, know that you are not alone. We are all navigating unknown territory, and it is important to keep your head up and focus on what you can control right now!
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Fem Word organization. Any content provided by our authors are based on their opinions and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.