Overcoming Obstacles: Being a College Student During a Pandemic
COVID-19 has impacted everyone’s lives is some shape or form. Individuals around the world have lost someone they loved, have been unable to see family members, or have been quarantined at home with limited contact to other individuals. Individuals may also be navigating through a lack of routine and structure that exist in a pandemic as well as added burden on their mental health. On top of this, students and teachers alike face another challenge during the pandemic: we must adjust to a different version of learning.
As Lake Forest College Students started their second semester of online learning in August, many mourned their loss of socialization with peers and missed their friends again. Being in isolation long-term caused many students to feel very alone in their challenges of navigating online classes, especially when it felt like the world was in turmoil. This sentiment was particularly hard on the incoming freshman as it was challenging to make friends without the opportunities that being on campus usually allows. One freshman who spent her first semester of college at home with her parents mentions how the social challenges were the hardest to overcome while being in school during the pandemic. Ella Burns expressed that it felt like she “was in an extra year of high school”. Burns said that she was looking forward to “getting to know her classmates and teammates, but [she] was only able to connect to a few classmates and team members.”
For some, the social aspect was not the most challenging. For example, students like Kylie Morgan, a junior majoring in biology, found learning online to be the most difficult aspect. Morgan mentions how she experienced Zoom fatigue and headaches daily due to online classes. She states, “taking online classes caused me to spend most of the day on my laptop which made me feel so exhausted”. Despite this, Morgan expressed how it helped her “value her free time and that she could “spend more time outdoors”. Online learning brings its challenges, but it does create space for students to value the time they have outside of learning.
Even amid a global-wide pandemic, Lake Forest Students continued to learn that they can overcome life obstacles in the face of uncertainty. Senior, Cassidy Herberth realized that she had more time to figure out her life choices and grow as a student before committing to any specific job. She said, “before the pandemic I had a clear view of what I wanted to do after I graduated and where I wanted to go, but now that everything is up in the air, I realized that I could grow a lot more than I was going to allow myself.” The worry of less job opportunities after graduation has allowed, or forced in some cases, some students to rethink their future. In the face of economic uncertainty, graduating students are having the chance to think about their future in a way that did not exist before. They are trying to stay positive while realizing that the uncertainty of the future brought by the pandemic offers them an avenue to learn from experience and grow as individuals.
Students who were learning asynchronously experienced still other sets of challenges and life experiences compared to other students who were learning remotely. Sophomore Jhanati Rajesh experienced the challenges of learning asynchronously as she was living abroad during the pandemic. Jhanati, who is residing in her hometown of Bangalore, India, said the biggest challenge was the 11.5-hour time difference. Jhanati mentions how she felt “isolated especially in lab-based classes as she struggled to keep up with the work.” However, Jhanati mentions how the struggle of feeling alone and learning so far away from college allowed her to realize she could “pay attention in class at 3 am” and mentions how she was “able to motivate herself to do more than she ever thought she was capable of.”
Although learning during a pandemic caused many to overcome a social or learning curve, for some, it bloomed an opportunity. For Kerry Mullen, who is a junior biology major, the pandemic gave her the opportunity to have time to pursue jobs that would help her career path as a physical therapist. Mullen expressed how she was able to get a job as a physical therapist assistant locally. For Mullen, this was a dream come true. She stated, “I was worried about not being able to get any shadowing hours that would prepare me more for my graduate program. Usually if I am in-person learning, I would never have been able to work as much as I did and gain experiential hours for my future graduate program. This helped relieve a lot of worry I had regarding how prepared I would be for physical therapy graduate school. I am very fortunate for that”. Even though opportunities like Kerry’s do not happen too frequently during the pandemic, it shows a glimmer of hope during a period that seems to be filled with darkness.
It is easy to get discouraged while living in the middle of a global pandemic, especially when it has changed everyone’s lives and created new sources of worry. However, the students at Lake Forest College have shown that even when faced with adverse environments, we do persevere. This group of students will be next to create large change for future generations and learning in a pandemic has reshaped the way our society functions, thus allowing us to create a better and healthier world. It has shown us how important community is, and how we are capable of so much more than we ever perceived. It is challenging to learn in a remote environment, but it is an important reminder that no matter how hard being a student during a pandemic can be, we are helping to save lives and create a safer environment for our community. By taking these proper precautions, we are saving lives and ensuring that our community and student body stays healthy.