South Bend, IN
My least favorite class used to meet for hours on end but now the lectures are cancelled and I have so much more free time. I feel like I can actually be productive and efficient for this class and my others. My motivation is better because now I can take ownership of my own work. There were some personalities I was working with before who I really didn’t agree with, and it’s refreshing to have that separation.
Birmingham, AL
My most impactful memory of the situation so far happened on the last day of classes before spring break. We were frantic, not because of the virus but because the last day before break is loaded with deadlines. I had fifteen minutes before my next class and ten of that needed to be spent cram-studying for that day’s quiz, but I was trying to fit in every last second with my friends from the class that had just ended. Pretty soon I was forced to run off to the next building but as I was jogging away it finally hit me that I wouldn’t be seeing these people again and that even though nothing was final, we most likely wouldn’t be coming back after break. I would have hung around longer or skipped class to have one last lunch together but there were too many grades on the line and I really didn’t have a choice but to move on to the next thing. I realize how uneventful this story really is, but it sticks in my head as the first moment I felt that things had spiraled out of control and the first time that I felt powerless amidst the pandemic.
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.
Pullman, WA
I am a student at Washington State University and I am hating life right now. To get by I am writing in a journal and talking to my friend who lives in France. I am also online shopping like crazy and running out of money. I just love the feeling of getting gifts at my door though. It’s unhealthy. But I am trying to get by in my classes and I am dropping two of our four and taking pass/fail on the two I’m staying in just to maintain a decent GPA. I am still going to fail my finance class and that’s rough to know. This is getting to be too much and I want so desperately for things to go back to normal.
Wilmington, DE
My theater class was already a little weak to begin with. The professor would go on sometimes incoherent tangents and the class as a whole was bored and unengaged. Over Zoom I think the students are given a better setting to pay even less attention, and now some of the more physical elements of the class are totally void. It’s almost comically bad. We no longer have “warm-ups” (which involved some game or physical exercise we were supposed to do at the beginning of the class), we can no longer see the plays we were expected to attend (we were given movies to watch instead), and the monologues we were expected to memorize and recite were performed over Zoom instead, which allowed students to just read theirs off their screens.
New Haven, CT
My favorite class is much worse. I’m an Honors student and most of my classes are discussion-based, and discussion boards definitely do not generate the same level or depth of discussion. Also professors who were rather hands-on before the transition online are now taking a more hands-off approach which equals students being forced to teach themselves subjects instead. Ultimately, it typically becomes just a lecture after 20 minutes since students either aren’t as inclined to participate online or because they cannot due to environmental noise. It’s emotionally draining in a way that going to class isn’t. Honestly, Zoom calls go on for way too long and very little gets accomplished or talked about. It’s a waste of time and energy.