It’s the second semester of your senior year, and you couldn’t be happier. Finally you can kick back and relax in classes, you can go out with friends, and the most important thing, in a few months you are going to walk the stage and get your high school diploma. You already got accepted into your dream college, so from now until college starts you plan on setting the car on cruise control and just enjoying the drive.
Or that’s what you thought was going to happen. Sadly you are in the graduating class of 2020, and COVID-19 has caused the entire world to shut down.
Now, what am I going to do? What can I expect? Is college still going to happen? Is life basically just closed now? What’s going to happen now? Will I still walk the stage for graduation? These questions were going through my head when I heard about school being all online.
For a while, it felt like everything we students had been working towards simply came crashing down, and there was no way to rebuild it, which can cause several seniors to get major anxiety and become depressed.
We all dreamed of walking the stage at graduation and being done with high school, but now we’re told our dreams are going to stay dreams. We accepted it --although we really didn’t have any other option. We drove through our schools, got our diplomas, and moved on.
A few days after “graduation” I heard some breaking news, with an emphasis on breaking. Due to an increase in COVID-19 cases, all CSU’s would transition into completely online classes. This broke all the hearts of current students, staff and faculty, and all the incoming freshmen, like me. We accepted it while remaining hopeful.
Now, to discuss the transition:
To be honest, transitioning was the easiest thing I’ve ever done, because everyone knows how tough this time is and is doing their best to help one another. All the staff had made everything so smooth. There was no problem accessing all required forms, or going to a virtual orientation, or finding out classes. Everything was extremely clear, and when school started, it stayed just as easy.
There was no running around campus trying to find classes; there was no spending half an hour trying to find parking; there was no getting lost, simply because classes are online.
Going to class was really easy because, my ‘commute’ was walking from my bed to my laptop. From there, it is simply logging into Canvas and opening the Zoom link. All the homework was on Canvas, so it can be done whenever and isn’t really a big problem.
All that being said, there still was a big problem. Meeting new people and making new friends in college was now the biggest issue of my freshman year. No one really talks to each other. In classes, several people will mute themselves and have their cameras off, leaving the professors lecturing a bunch of black boxes on a screen.
Connecting with peers was my biggest problem, so I worked to find a solution. I went to club meetings, met people, and found a club that I really love, PRSSA. I’ve met some incredible people.
After the first week, students in classes actually started opening up and being friendly. Now, people are making great new friendships with each other, and college isn’t seeming as sad as it did during the summer.
Once again you spend time with all your friends, virtually, and enjoy your classes, virtually, and even go and check out the clubs around campus, virtually.
The truth is that it isn’t the best or the most ideal situation. In fact it’s the complete opposite, but it is what it is.
Going through this transition I learned being positive and optimistic is super important. Yes everything is online, and yes, you can’t go on campus, however none of this should stop you from reaching out and engaging with everything and everyone at school.
Losing my last few months of high school and my graduation really hurt. If it hadn’t happened, though, I don’t know if I would have met even half of the people at Sac State I know right now. Overall, the transition was honestly one of the hardest, yet easiest things that I’ve done. Through it all, I learned a lot.
- Sankalp Sharma
Or that’s what you thought was going to happen. Sadly you are in the graduating class of 2020, and COVID-19 has caused the entire world to shut down.
Now, what am I going to do? What can I expect? Is college still going to happen? Is life basically just closed now? What’s going to happen now? Will I still walk the stage for graduation? These questions were going through my head when I heard about school being all online.
For a while, it felt like everything we students had been working towards simply came crashing down, and there was no way to rebuild it, which can cause several seniors to get major anxiety and become depressed.
We all dreamed of walking the stage at graduation and being done with high school, but now we’re told our dreams are going to stay dreams. We accepted it --although we really didn’t have any other option. We drove through our schools, got our diplomas, and moved on.
A few days after “graduation” I heard some breaking news, with an emphasis on breaking. Due to an increase in COVID-19 cases, all CSU’s would transition into completely online classes. This broke all the hearts of current students, staff and faculty, and all the incoming freshmen, like me. We accepted it while remaining hopeful.
Now, to discuss the transition:
To be honest, transitioning was the easiest thing I’ve ever done, because everyone knows how tough this time is and is doing their best to help one another. All the staff had made everything so smooth. There was no problem accessing all required forms, or going to a virtual orientation, or finding out classes. Everything was extremely clear, and when school started, it stayed just as easy.
There was no running around campus trying to find classes; there was no spending half an hour trying to find parking; there was no getting lost, simply because classes are online.
Going to class was really easy because, my ‘commute’ was walking from my bed to my laptop. From there, it is simply logging into Canvas and opening the Zoom link. All the homework was on Canvas, so it can be done whenever and isn’t really a big problem.
All that being said, there still was a big problem. Meeting new people and making new friends in college was now the biggest issue of my freshman year. No one really talks to each other. In classes, several people will mute themselves and have their cameras off, leaving the professors lecturing a bunch of black boxes on a screen.
Connecting with peers was my biggest problem, so I worked to find a solution. I went to club meetings, met people, and found a club that I really love, PRSSA. I’ve met some incredible people.
After the first week, students in classes actually started opening up and being friendly. Now, people are making great new friendships with each other, and college isn’t seeming as sad as it did during the summer.
Once again you spend time with all your friends, virtually, and enjoy your classes, virtually, and even go and check out the clubs around campus, virtually.
The truth is that it isn’t the best or the most ideal situation. In fact it’s the complete opposite, but it is what it is.
Going through this transition I learned being positive and optimistic is super important. Yes everything is online, and yes, you can’t go on campus, however none of this should stop you from reaching out and engaging with everything and everyone at school.
Losing my last few months of high school and my graduation really hurt. If it hadn’t happened, though, I don’t know if I would have met even half of the people at Sac State I know right now. Overall, the transition was honestly one of the hardest, yet easiest things that I’ve done. Through it all, I learned a lot.
- Sankalp Sharma
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