March 2020 was a weird time; people’s lives were changing as they were sent to stay in their homes for a couple of months. Homes became offices and classrooms.
Students went from seeing their friends at school to seeing their friends behind a computer screen. Life was like this for some months then June rolled around, people started to live their normal lives socially distant.
Summer ended leaving one question in peoples’ head. What’s school going to look like this year? Schools had three options, full remote, hybrid model or full face to face classes with social distancing.
Schools across the country all made their own decisions with varying results.
Some colleges successfully brought kids back on campus, having them take online classes from their dorm. Some colleges that had face to face classes had to deal with students on campus partying without masks causing Covid spikes.
Our school NECC went fully remote from the beginning of the fall semester. NECC before the pandemic offered online courses so the transition, went smooth for the most part. I talked to some of the students on how they where holding up during this weird period in their lives.
When school was initially taken online some people were concerned that the students would not do well in an online environment.
When asked on if they have taken online classes before and how their transition went, student Mirrorajah Metcalfe answered, “I did online course for my 8th grade of middle school and partially throughout high school, so the transition was personally not too difficult.”
Some people had easier transitions than others, when the student Niasly Gonzalez was asked they said, “I have never took classes online before the pandemic the transition was pretty difficult in the beginning and sometimes is now.”
The NECC campus is not just classrooms it is also home to a basketball court, a fitness center, game room and multiple lounge type areas for students to hang out and meet other students.
When asked what they miss about campus Metcalfe said “I miss being in a classroom with other students. I miss being able to raise my hand to ask the professor a question. I miss being able to walk around or go to the NECC library and study. I miss learning interactively.”
When the student Robert Smith was asked what he missed on campus he said, “The things that I miss most about campus are interacting with people face to face and the Student Center.”
A lot of schools this year have gone back with socially distant learning or making their kids take their classes online in their dorms.
One problem both colleges must face with having in person classes, is the rise of cases due to on campus partying and direct violations of Covid guidelines.
When asked if campuses should crack down on parties Metcalfe had this to say, “I don’t think that college campuses should crack down on campus parties. College is where you are supposed to have the experiences of partying and adulting without the supervision and restrictions of parents. Face to face classes are already gone, campus parties can at least provide a sense of normalcy to the young adults entering this new world.”
When asked the same question Smith said “I absolutely believe that colleges should crack down on campus parties. These people who are choosing to willfully ignore the guidelines need to be punished and need to have the proverbial book thrown in their face. Whether that is by fine, no reimbursement for tuition, or something else doesn`t matter to me so long as they learn a lesson. I am sorry for throwing a rather strong opinion out there, but this is getting ridiculous and is not helping us in our efforts to defeat the virus.”
Because of the excessive partying on campuses across the country, some colleges have become a hot spot for Covid 19.
When asked if they were surprised that cases are rising at some colleges Metcalfe had to say, “It is not surprising that cases have risen, the epidemic is something that can only be hopefully maintained but never entirely controlled until there is an effective vaccine.”
When asked the same question Smith said “It is not surprising to me that that their cases have risen, and a big part of that has to do with what I mentioned above. Also, I was watching a college football game between Clemson and Notre Dame and you cannot convince me that they were not telling the virus where to go shove it with how they were acting.”
College is an exciting time in people’s lives.
College is most students first time they are away from their parents, and the first time they make their own decisions.
2020 is a weird year, it almost feels like its on pause. College kids want to go live their best lives as adults, but as covid came it put their lives on hold. Hopefully in 2021 these kids who feel stuck in limbo will be able to resume as we come to a new normal.
