Navigating college

Freshman year cut short.

These four words pretty much sum up what my college experience, being sent home, meant to me.

Don’t get me wrong; I absolutely love it back home.

In the same sense, it would be an understatement to say I’m bummed. This is the time we’re supposed to start spreading our wings and figuring out where we want to go and who we want to be.

Freshman year of college includes a lot of new experiences. While attending Wayne State College, I have already created many life-long friendships, and I was super excited for my second semester. As for most students, spring semester is the busiest, and oftentimes, the most fun.

It does feel like when we get to return in the fall, all of us are going to have to completely restart again, but maybe with just a little bit more knowledge this time.

Not to mention, online classes are hard. Communicating via Zoom with professors and classmates is hard. Wi-fi in these rural areas is not ideal for college classes.

However, throughout this whole thing, I knew I was not alone. Professors did everything in their will to make sure we students were physically, mentally and academically well. Many events have still gone on, just in the form of a virtual call, and we are fortunate to have this kind of technology.

During this time, I really think of the seniors who missed out on the last couple months of high school, the elderly who miss seeing their families, the businesses who are forced to close, and finally, all the essential workers who are hard at work every day.

Overall, I don’t believe it’s the end of the world. We’re all in this together. I think if we continue to support our local businesses and stay aware of everything going on around us, it will make us, college-aged kids, even more thankful once we are allowed to leave our homes and return to campus.