All posts by Brian Benjamin, Correspondent

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First year students reflect on their first semester

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College students throughout the country have been asked to follow a unique set of expectations and requirements equating to seemingly nothing else in recent educational history this past year.

With serious adaptation necessary to adhere to COVID-19 protocols, college students at all levels seemed to pay the price both literally and figuratively, in the sense that each individual’s experience was inevitably hindered in some way this semester and for returning students or graduates the semester prior, as well continuing to pay the full price, of course ludicrous amounts for some schools, for an experience that for many did not feel worth it.

The similar and contrasting approaches and changes that have come acquainted with the altered experience has undoubtedly effected students of all ages, but outside of those set to graduate college in 2021 who have had their senior year stained, it feels the incoming freshman class got the shorter end of the stick in terms of the appeal in attending college.

While the opportunity for vast improvement in the remaining years should be taken into consideration before labeling their experience to be not worthwhile, for the limited and watered-down semester just endured to be their only taste of college life to this point, it should be of no surprise that many students are second-guessing their decisions or waiting out lifting of restrictions.

Students who attended NECC this past semester dodged a serious bullet in comparison to others, as costs associated with the community college is a small fraction lined up next to the price of other state and private schools, thus making transferring to NECC an attractive option to the number of Massachusetts students sent home or never even stepping on a campus as COVID-19 concerns grew.

While some schools have declared themselves optimistic and ambitious enough to open their campuses when students return for next semester, NECC, like many others, has chosen to continue operating over the computer. With these second and third weeks of December requesting final exams and projects, and knowing the semester ahead is likely to be more of the same, three first-year Northern Essex students were asked to reflect on their first college semester.

David Brickley, 19, is a business major in his first year at NECC who had initially hoped to go away for college, but instead chose to enroll at NECC.

“When our school shutdown in March, I was in the process of deciding between a few schools in Mass, then when things started to get more concerning, I hit pause on the decision. At the time I was working at Chick-Fil-A, and it would get so busy so fast. I took on more hours and started building up my savings, so when I came back to my decision, and since questions about how the schoolyear would look started to come up, I felt NECCO was the best choice for me both because it wouldn’t drain the savings I had built up and would allow me to maintain working more hours than I planned to if I were living on campus somewhere,” Brickley said over the phone.

Brickley was then asked to describe his experience of his first semester, stated “I definitely underestimated the workload. I started a new job for more money with UPS, initially the thought of having the computer there, not needing to go to a class, made me assume things would be easier, and at first when everyone was new to this it was, but as time went on my assignments started to take longer and longer. It was hard to get myself to sit at my desk and focus on the computer for hours when I would get back from work, and it definitely required me to do more in each class on my days off”

Brickley was then asked to reflect on his grades, work habits, and name potential improvements he could implement to make next semester better, replying “I was never concerned about failing or anything like that, but my grades definitely weren’t what they were in high school, but knowing I was going to be working as much as, I was mostly focused on keeping everything afloat, and there were some assignments that I just couldn’t get myself to do and had to just take the hit”

Continuing to his work habits, “As time went on they got better, I learned how to budget my time better as the semester went on and the last month or so I started to be on a schedule in terms of how much I would expect to do each day,” he said.

As for methods of improving his experience next semester, Brickley floated the idea of attending classes part-time rather than full-time, referencing the workload that grew to be excessive at times when paired with long hours at UPS.

Aya Kasbi, 19, spent her first semester at NECC majoring in forensic science, and shared a similar experience to that of Brickley’s in relation to her first semester.

“I didn’t really know what to expect, and based on the online work I had been given to finish off senior year, I had gotten my hopes up and convinced myself it would be easy,” she responded via FaceTime

Kasbi expanded on her answer in stating “Things started off slow, for most incoming freshmen this was their first real online course designed to challenge them in the same way a regular schoolyear would, if not more, having to stay on top of and understand everything on your own. The first couple weeks had led me to believe more of the same would continue throughout the semester, but I felt like my classes were getting harder by the week.”

In terms of grades and work habits, Kasbi stated “It was definitely not one of my better years in terms of percentages, but my scores for assignments and quizzes started to go up, during the middle chunk of the semester in October. I was leaving a lot of things till the last minute and some things I just was not in the mindset to do, but I definitely know how to approach my work better now”

Kasbi has not yet made a decision as to whether or not she will return for next semester but when asked to name potential methods of improvement, Kasbi mentioned “Just not to dig myself in a hole at any point, now that I have an idea of what to expect I think I will be able to maintain better grades.”

Tatiana Matrille, 18, was the final NECC student interviewed to reflect on her semester, this being Matrille’s second interview in the past month following up on previous statements regarding her online experience. Matrille had previously mentioned switching her major, spending the past semester majoring in liberal arts and now aiming to major in exercise science.

Asked to elaborate on her semester description, Matrille stated “A lot of the work felt tedious, not just the required classes, but the classes I had elected to take. I didn’t come in with a great understanding of what I wanted to study, and didn’t really want to come in undecided, so I picked something I felt kind of 50/50 about, and once things started moving at a regular pace, I found I just didn’t feel the same about majoring in liberal arts.”

As for her grades and work habits, Matrille said “I worked really hard throughout the semester, and got mostly everything done, even though there were many nights it took a long time for me to get motivated. After a little over a month once things started picking up, I started putting aside a few hours each day, some weeks more than others, and I got myself back on track and stayed caught up once I got there. The work itself wasn’t necessarily hard, but had multiple parts and required more time.”

Asked to include potential methods for improving next semester, also designated to be online, Matrille stated “Picking classes I like and can maintain interest in, and if the ones I take initially don’t fit that description, having the courage to get in contact with advising, I was too shy to try and get in contact with anyone that could change my classes.”

This past semester was far from traditional, and to be an incoming freshman, exposed to your first college experience, it should come to no surprise that this past year was confusing and rather underwhelming for many.

Set to for the most part continue to operate online (outside of a small number of classes in need of equipment only available on campus), NECC students of all ages can reflect on their approach to this past semester, gather explanations as to how some things were successful and others were not, and maintain the perseverance they developed in completing this online semester in the interest of reaching goals for the remastered digital semester.

 

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Students prep for another online semester

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The new emphasis towards online learning in the wake of what we hope will be the final stretch of the pandemic, is different for a large majority of students. Northern Essex recently informed their students that they would continue to proceed with classes almost entirely online throughout the spring semester and available winter courses.

Now in December, NECC students are in the home stretch of classes and will soon enter the final week of the fall semester. Registry for spring and winter courses are available. With a taste of strictly online college courses under their belt, how do NECC students feel about the extension of online learning?

Tatiana Matrille, 18, majoring in liberal arts last semester, was asked her opinion of the online class experience via Facetime.

“I don’t mind it as much as I first did. There were times it was really stressful in all my classes; it was hard to get myself back in school mode. I’ve developed strategies and routines that help me get my work done, and I’ll definitely need to follow them into next semester,” said Matrille

“I didn’t have a lot of motivation at first, but I started to realize I had to get it done. But, I have decided to change my major, I didn’t enjoy some of the classes I was taking” she added

Matrille stated that she did in fact declare a new major, abandoning liberal arts for exercise science for next semester. Matrille did also make clear she would not be opposed to in-person classes, but she has grown more comfortable with the idea of online courses than when she initially started.

The first-year college student says she spends usually six sometimes seven days doing chunks of homework most weeks. “When we first really started getting work, I could not keep up, and part of me considered I have to drop this class, drop out, something, I just didn’t want to feel that constant stress anymore. But as I started to complete things, I would keep reminders of how I approached getting that work done,” explained Matrille.

She added “I found that breaking my work into a couple hours everyday instead of all day for a couple days was a plan that worked. I don’t love having to do school almost every day, even on weekends, but doing a little each day has worked out better than doing a ton on a couple days and worrying about it the days I didn’t.”

This has become a common perception amongst a number of students. While the online experience was new to them, they were forced to adapt, many still struggling to do so in certain aspects, thus a group of students have developed methods of survival in terms of grades and classwork.

Louis Dimopolous, 18, majoring in Computer Science, supports the other side of the argument, who is not excited the courses will proceed to be online.

“It’s so much harder. I knew most of my work would have been computer based anyways, so I didn’t think being online wouldn’t really matter to me. But is is harder, trying to just kind of teach everything to yourself, and understand it on your own, stay on top of your schedule and workload without a teacher saying things out loud, or even just being able to look and see what people around you are doing, you don’t have that online,” said Dimopolous via FaceTime.

Dimopolous also added he was eager to get inside the campus, stating “I still have only been inside a couple times, some buildings or areas not at all. It doesn’t feel like you really get all the features even of a community college when things are solely online.”

While some have found their routes to success amidst the challenge, it seems a majority of students find the online work more challenging than it would be in a classroom. Motivation, and designing an appropriate schedule has been a challenge for many.

Jack DiTonno, 19, in his second year at NECC, majoring in business, is another student who is not looking forward to the plan to stay online, stating “I expected it, but that didn’t make me any less disappointed to hear it. It is so much harder to get everything done and done on time when you feel like you have never even been in the class. COVID concerns are rising and I don’t blame them for the decision, but it is going to be a grind, just like this past semester” said DiTonno also via FaceTime.

DiTonno also mentioned that getting help with classwork was easier when the campus was open. “When you’re in a classroom you can ask the teacher or someone next to you brief questions just to clarify something, things you feel stupid sending an email about. It was easier if you were struggling with your classes too, you could just walk into advising and sit down with someone who can point things out and explain things to you, that entire process takes longer and is less effective when done virtually”

With a similar outlook for next semester, NECC students are especially looking forward to their holiday break, but not before the final projects, tests and quizzes, with due dates slowly but surely creeping forward. Students will continue to search for methods of easing the stresses associated with their online courses.

Many students have found a dip in their grades and work ethic. When the entirety of one’s exposure to a course is through a screen, it is easy to feel as though the work is less significant, and lose sight of your motivation to produce work on time and at a high level. Some students are aiming to take the next semester off, to regroup their feelings and aspirations with their classes, especially those with an undecided or second-guessed major.

All phases of education have been forced to adapt to the restrictions of the pandemic, none finding the remote or virtual experiences to be easier than the original.

College students throughout the country are facing the rapid uptick in online educating, some colleges taking their chances opening up or welcoming back the students to campus, while many choosing to cut their losses and maintain safety assurance in continuing online, this fitting the description for Northern Essex.

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A Halloween like no other

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Now ten months in, it is no secret that the year 2020 has been anything but traditional for the entire country in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. With Massachusetts deemed an initial hotspot for the virus, towns within the state have come well acquainted with the prohibition of large gatherings.

As October arrived, people in Haverhill, initially considered one of the state’s danger zones, began to raise the question as to whether or not another tradition in both the state and throughout the country, Halloween, would also be heavily altered.

Associated side by side with Halloween, Haverhill citizens raised concern about trick or treat before October even arrived. Mayor Jim Fiorentini initially reassure his town there would in fact be a trick or treat, quoted in a Haverhill Gazette article on Sept. 17 that “Trick-or-treat is a wonderful time for kids, and whether it be car parades, leaving out candy without contact, each neighborhood organizing on their own, or something else” finishing with “”Unless our community spread gets worse and we have to cancel everything, it is our intention as of now to do something, so have those costumes ready.”

That enthusiasm would not last very long. On October 1st, Fiorentini would inform citizens that trick or treat would in fact not be a city-wide trick-or-treat, following Haverhill Board of Health’s advisory against the celebration,  according to 97.9 WHAV.

Lifelong Haverhill resident Christine Benjamin, 46, expressed her sorrow for the Haverhill children being robbed of what to them is the most appealing aspect of the holiday, “I feel really bad for the kids and parents. I did trick-or-treat as a parent for twenty-six years between my two children and my nephew when I was a teenager. It’s got to be so hard to tell your kids they won’t get to go out this year” said Benjamin. She says with her children now well past the trick-or-treat days, she still feels the spirit of Halloween in the excitement she gets from decorating the lawn, and the movies on TV.

Connie and Robert Smith, residing in Haverhill for north of seventy years, were also disappointed in the city’s cancellation of the event. “We understand that they’re worried about safety. It’s probably the right thing to do, but I can’t think of a way you can really explain to a little kid” said Connie. “I get a sense of joy out of answering the door and seeing the costumes, so I’ll miss it too”.

Robert favored the idea of leaving a bowl of candy out, stating “It doesn’t seem like that would be a super spreader. Leaving a bowl out at least just for the kids in the neighborhood, wipe it down once it needs to be filled back up. But even then you’ve got a number of kids all touching the same surface, there really isn’t any way to avoid all contact, but I don’t know, it seems like they can come up with something better than nothing”.

This idea has not yet been ruled dead, as individual neighborhoods may be allowed to host only their own residents.

In an interview with Alicia Russell, NECC student and mother of three, says she planned on sitting this one out even before Fiorentini cancelled the event. “Only one of my kids is in the age range that he wanted to go. But working in the hospital, I never wanted to take a chance of getting it from my son or anyone else and then putting the people at work or the patients at risk.”

Russell is working hard o become a nurse through the NECC program.

She added “we plan on coming up with an idea like Easter, hiding Candy around the house or outside if the weather is nice. We don’t want him to keep having things taken from him from this whole thing that he, or any kid for that matter, can’t fully understand.”