Colorado freshmen who arrived on school campuses in the fall of 2020 encountered a very different environment than generations past. With the elegance of COVID-19 set to graduate next month, we asked 4 of them how the pandemic has affected what was supposed to be the years. of their lives.
Here’s what they said.
Looking back on my freshman year, if I had known what I was going to experience, I wouldn’t have done it. The first thing I did was get a COVID-19 check before I moved. All dark, quiet and warm. That year there were severe forest fires. It’s strange. Many students rely on their guidance teams to make friends, yet I spent my entire first week alone in front of Zoom calls. When I returned to second grade, I was very satisfied to see cutlery and furniture in the dining room. Just sitting down with other people and sharing a meal the first time I felt like I was in college.
I had been accepted to the Art Institute of Chicago, but the tuition was over $50,000 a year. I didn’t need to pay that much to take online classes. So I started remotely at San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico, and then a year later, I transferred to Fort Lewis College in Durango, where I majored in sociology, studio art, and gender and sexuality studies. It would have been a smart experience, but I’m actually satisfied with where I am. Now I’m only $5,000 in debt and could possibly get a master’s degree.
If you were exposed, you would be quarantined in a separate construction site for 14 days. I get a text message that basically says, “Your room will have to undergo a saliva check this week because COVID-19 was detected in the sewage. “Is the bedroom going to be checked? It was such a strange message to receive. By the spring of 2022, things were almost back to normal. I’m not jealous of top-notch academics who are going to have a genuine college experience. However, I wonder what it would have been like if we had. We missed the opportunity to build a network because we only had 21 months of general college education. On the other hand, we now know how to adapt.
I am one of the first people in my family circle to go to college. My mother doesn’t speak much English. So when everything shut down in the spring of 2020, it was really tricky to figure out how to apply for everything, especially the FAFSA [financial aid form], and I had to do it myself. I’m very social in high school, but once COVID-19 hit and I spent all that time at home, I felt a lot of social anxiety when I returned to school in person. I’ve spent time [training] in hospitals, but it’s still stressful. when you start running full-time in a larger environment.
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