I am on my way to my 8 a.m. Intro to Psych class. My professor, Dr. Holly Shivers, stayed front and center the whole time; she was wearing a plastic mask and there was another plastic screen in front of her; this was not the college experience I expected.
As I continued through my Fall 2020 semester, I had four more classes on campus that were all hybrid, in person and online. As the semester progressed, I realized that I was not genuinely enjoying my time on campus, I missed home way more than I expected.
Because my classes were partly online, I was not as focused as I should have been, the major I chose became overwhelming, I dropped a class and changed majors at the end of the semester.
Why did my first college semester go so horribly? Why am I not experiencing college in its best form? Everything was going in an upward motion and then suddenly it stopped. How did it happen? What happened?
COVID-19. My senior year of high school was winding down when the COVID-19 Pandemic struck the United States. In just a blink of an eye my classmates and I went from ACT prepping, prom planning and cap and gown fitting, to quarantining, lockdowns and our phones being the only way we could communicate with one another. Once we went into lockdown COVID immediately started to affect my college experience.
While in lockdown I began to question if attending college on campus was the correct choice for
me. The National ACT was cancelled, so I did not get a chance to raise my ACT scores, which could have affected my scholarship money. Fast forward a couple of months and the lockdown has been lifted and the senior class of 20 are now the new incoming college freshmen. Against my better judgement, I applied for on-campus housing.
" I was excited to attend college while I was in high school, now I am nervous because we just finished lockdown," said Aspen Holmes.
It was August 12, 2020, the sun was beaming, and I was a nervous wreck. Moving on campus after lockdown was a daunting task. Because of the pandemic students were required to bring their own movers and roommates moved in on opposite days. “I think it’s so weird that we didn’t get to move in at the same time,” said my then roommate, Cailynn Brooks.
I spent the last five months at home with my family with little to no contact with people outside. In my free time I would walk around campus. The atmosphere of the campus was not how it was being displayed in my acceptance packet. Students are wearing masks and staring at the ground, or their phones and MASK REQUIRED signs are plastered on every wall, this place did not feel like my home away from home.
When I originally acknowledged my acceptance to NSU I was expecting to get interactive and hands on teaching, go to fun on campus events and make lifelong friends. When I arrived on campus, I experienced distance and isolation. A few weeks after, I finally settled in, my roommate and I were not getting along because of our conflicting views over COVID.
She felt she could bring outside people into the room; I believed she should not; we ended up having a major fallout because of this. Because my roommate was not following COVID guidelines properly, she caught COVID, I decided to get tested. I went into the health services building and got COVID tested for the first time in my life. “I have to stick this swab, pretty deep into your nose,” said the nurse. The test was painful, but it only took about 30 seconds, and I got my results an hour later. My phone rings.
“I am calling to speak with Kai Kirk,” said the nurse.
“This is she,” I said.
“You have tested positive for COVID,” said the nurse.
“Okay, what’s next,” I responded.
“You will need to quarantine for two weeks, we will give you an excuse for your professors,” said the nurse.
I decided to spend my two weeks of quarantine at home, in Alexandria. I realized that even with following the guidelines I could still have the potential of getting sick and I was not enjoying my overall college experience.
My college experience was not supposed to be like this. I had to decide, do I stay or go? After I finished my quarantine, I decided permanently to move off campus. I was disappointed that even though I was following guidelines and adjusting to the new “normal” some students and staff were noncompliant and exposed people to COVID. I knew that I did not want to potentially get COVID and again risk exposing my family, so I applied for a lease termination and registered for online classes in the spring.
Taking my classes online made me become more responsible and helped me prioritize what was most important to me, getting a degree. I learned how to teach myself materials and communicate with my professors and classmates in a timely manner.
The most important thing I learned while being fully online was hard work, I got my first job during that time. During my first spring semester, I worked 40 hours a week at my job, Johnny’s Pizza House, while attempting to receive 20 credit hours at school.
The biggest lesson that I took from this experience is that I must be open to change and be comfortable with being uncomfortable. I also had to adjust my learning style because I became a commuter and could no longer take all my classes on campus.
COVID caused people to become scared and made the world an even scarier place. Although my college experience was severely altered because of COVID, I do not regret living on campus. I learned how to make better choices and I became more independent.
Living on a college campus during the COVID-19 pandemic made me the woman that I am today, embracing a culture that I was not expecting.
