College students and graduates alike found their time on campus cut short this spring by the ongoing pandemic. Campuses were reduced to virtual classrooms and many students reluctantly witnessed their summer plans (and internships) be put on hold. So, as summer approaches, what is there for students to do?
Below, our newest contributing editor and resident college undergrad, Olivia Smelas, writes an open letter to her fellow students, reflecting on her past few months in quarantine and the best way she believes students can continue to thrive — even when things are still up in the air.
College students everywhere reluctantly returned to their hometowns in March 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving desks empty, lecture halls eerily quiet, and city streets desolate with the exception of litter tumbleweeds and the memory of the purposeful individuals who once occupied them. I wonder what the pigeons think.
Since then, dorms have become childhood bedrooms, classmates have become siblings pausing in doorframes to ask for help on a math question, and Friday nights have become the saddest and loneliest of them all.
I have spent the last 79 mornings waking up to the sound of my dad’s thunderous voice, defiant of literally every single law of acoustics, coaching his physical therapy patients to stretch “Just a touch further bud!” and “Come on, I know you can touch your toes!” right around 6:30 am. Both my parents practice physical therapy and were briefly jobless until “telehealth” regulations were established, allowing them to practice PT via a Facetime-like server at a cut salary.
I am incredibly lucky to have a supportive family that I have a close relationship with, though living with both my parents and brother, while maintaining our full academic and professional schedules, has created a LOT of obstacles. However, some of my friends haven’t been so lucky, many of them returning to unstable homes and negligent families. We are too young to receive stimulus checks or unemployment benefits, yet too old to rely on our parents for complete financial stability.
I have spent the last 79 afternoons hunched over my childhood desk, toiling away at meaningless classwork, listening to exhausted professors teach rock formations and communication theory, while thoughts of the future ransacked my head.
2020 graduates are entering into an entirely uncertain job market to say the least. According to the New York Times, over 20.5 million jobs have been lost, and the unemployment rate has shot up to 14.7% -- the worst employment devastation since the Great Depression. As a rising junior, I wonder how the economy will recover when it comes time for my own cap to fly through the air. With many internship programs cancelled, and entry level job opportunities few and far between, the world is enveloped in uncertainty for students and recent graduates alike.
As the only constant is change itself, it is important we equip ourselves the best we can for the coming months as the world hopefully begins to reopen. The extra time quarantine provides can be used as an opportunity to develop a passion project. For me, that’s a music blog where I write about albums, talk about underrated bands, and more. These projects can eventually become talking points during interviews, helping to differentiate you from other applicants.
Paint pictures, tie-dye shirts, try building something. Maybe you’ll develop an Instagram handle and sell your work. Learn a TikTok dance, make a playlist, reorganize your space, even rebrand yourself. I learned how to drive a tractor and am starting to practice Photoshop. Though my designs currently look like 2004 Microsoft Word clipart, I’m hoping by the time quarantine ends they’ll be as sharp and unique as the pro’s.
That said, this pandemic has had a huge impact on mental health. It is equally okay to do nothing but survive. Rates of depression and anxiety have skyrocketed, it is important now more than ever to pay attention to these needs and take care of one another as best we can.
College students today barely know a world pre 9/11/01. We graduated high school while our country was being torn apart by controversial political appointments and legislation, not to mention school shootings occurring so frequently they hardly made the headlines.
We are now finishing college amidst a global pandemic barring us from chasing the opportunities we deserve. The most valuable skill this experience will leave us with is adaptability. We will triumph over uncertainty, and embrace the time we have to create, explore, and take care of ourselves and one another. Class of 2020-2023, we can do anything.