Stories
Knoxville, TN
I am the younger of two siblings, and I was always the one who had the most trouble with education. During high school I found out I was struggling with depression and was constantly stressed and anxious. My first year of college was the worst. I had nowhere to go, and felt like I didn’t belong anywhere. I struggled to get through most days and even considered drastic measures. This continued into sophomore year, until I found my people. I began the process to be accepted into a small program at my school which was a grueling process. But I was accepted, and quickly became close with a small group in the program. These people pulled me up and helped me everyday. We told each other everything and lifted one another up. If one of us was going through something, someone was always there to help you through it. I was not one for big social gatherings, and survived off of close small groups of friends. And this is what I found. We spent every day together and learned the deepest parts of each other. They’re my best friends and will continue to be for years down the road. That’s the one thing I’m most thankful for from my experience.
Norwich, UK
All teaching has moved to digital formats and while I appreciate the effort from the staff, digital teaching is sloppy and insufficient for a visual degree. Like many art schools, our degree show has been cancelled, along with several competitions and residency opportunities, and our graduation is postponed. NUA is “looking into” a digital degree show but with the high prices students pay they feel entitled to a physical degree show. With the cancellation of nearly every aspect of my future university education, I am pushed further and further into the role of unhappy customer; a role I never wanted to take. Although we weren’t affected by the UK teaching strikes (though I know many who were), with a month off at Christmas, 3 weeks off in April, and an international pandemic halting normal life as well as education, my “University” experience this year is disappointing to say the least. It feels like I’ve been running a marathon and at mile 25 I’ve been told, “Don’t worry, that will do, you can stop now”.
New Haven, CT
Overall, I’m not learning anything. At all. It is a huge waste of time and money. I’m lucky I’m still in my undergraduate because the upper level classes that I’ll need to eventually take do not translate well online. I wish I could still be living at school, seeing my friends on a daily basis, being involved on campus, going to the gym, going out with friends, having movie nights, etc. I miss the way my life was. It was perfect. I had all my shit together and in a blink of an eye, everything that mattered to me shifted so drastically it was unrecognizable. I even miss my two on-campus jobs. I miss the routine of everything, the feelings of accomplishment I would get after having a successful board meeting for one of the organizations I was involved in. If classes are online for another semester, assuming it does not affect my scholarships or financial aid, I am highly considering taking a semester off until everything is back to normal.
New York, NY
I miss in person classes and feeling like I am on a schedule and on top of my assignments. I also miss living at college and being in an environment where everyone is doing the same things as me. It is more motivating being surrounded by students instead of being home where I’m the only kid still having a lot of school work. I also miss just being with my friends and having fun doing things that have nothing to do with class or grades.
New York, NY
My independence is the biggest one. I miss my casual acquaintances that I’m not “friends” with but still enjoy chatting with occasionally. I miss my professors’ being able to read the room through our body language and understand if we are with them/understand the concept they’re explaining.
Chicago, IL
I feel like I have been robbed of my first-year college experience. I was just getting into the college groove. The cost of school is a struggle and now I have enormous student loans for basically hanging out at home and randomly checking into my “classes” for a pass/fail grade: Not at all what I signed up for or agreed to pay thousands of dollars for.
West Lafayette, IN
I miss the walks to class to clear my head, running into people on campus, the unexpected parts of the day that come from being in a crowd of people, e.g., who you might see or what you might experience, completing group or hands-on projects, conferences or meetings, the camaraderie of sporting events, sitting in a lecture to listen in on the info while last-minute completing another assignment and the adrenaline rush that comes with it, or just sitting to listen to get a break in your day when you don’t have to run to the next thing, talking to customers at my part-time coffeehouse job or meeting friends after class at a coffee shop, having a personal connection with professors whether working on a project or hearing about how their kids are doing. Basically, all the best parts of school and education are taken from us (collaboration, the challenge of learning, being amongst other learners on campus) and we have just been left to do the crappy parts.
Denton, TX
I can’t really stand it. We must study for tests, tests that people can cheat on because we don’t actually learn the material with this hodge podge online learning system. I’m not learning. I could watch the class recordings all day and not learn this way unfortunately. My motivation to learn has gone down the drain. I have started cooking much more, and putting mandatory time aside to walk several miles a day. Aside from that, school has become ‘that thing’ I do briefly every other day where I google answers, write them down, and turn them in for a grade.