By: Sophie Saliba'23, Aleya Penn'24, and Jin Wen Xie'24
Photos Courtesy of Sophie Saliba'23, and Jin Wen Xie'24
With the COVID-19 pandemic drastically changing the lives of people all around us, the so-called “normal” college experience also varies across all spectrums. W&M-bound students from the start of the Fall 2020 semester all made different choices on how to receive their education, and here are some highlights of the diverse experiences of these students.
Freshman Year 2.0
By: Sophie Saliba'23
As a Junior at the College of William and Mary, I have experienced the effects of COVID-19, along with the university’s response, since the second semester of my freshman year. When I went home for Spring break in 2020, I fully expected to return to school, even after we were informed that the holiday would be extended by two weeks. At that point, I had made it through a little over a semester of college and finally felt like I was learning how to balance both my academic and social life. However, once we were officially sent home for the rest of the semester, my entire college experience was thrown for a loop. I live in a very small town in Southwestern Virginia with a little over 8,000 residents. It was quite surreal to embark on a new stage of life at William and Mary, only to return to the small rural town I had known since I was a child. After experiencing strenuous and challenging classes in person for an entire semester, I was required to hone new skills and completely change the way I learned and adapted to college classes. I am lucky to say that the semester turned out to be better than expected, as I filled my free time with new hobbies and at-home activities. However, now that I have returned to fully in-person classes at W&M, I feel very similar to how I did at the beginning of my freshman year.
Although both Williamsburg and William and Mary seem small to many, I sometimes find the amount of people to be overwhelming. I feel unsure of my social skills along with navigating through the mass of college students. Additionally, I am once again experiencing the nerves that accompany the uncertainty of being in an unfamiliar place along with beginning classes after previously being online for so long. I’m nervous about the difficulty levels of my courses, my ability to keep up with the workload, and recreating a balance between my academics and social life. While I think everyone can agree that when it comes to focus levels and learning in college, in-person classes are preferred. Nonetheless, I think we can also agree that it’s difficult to adapt to taking college courses around many people in academic buildings rather than the comfort of your own home or dorm. Additionally, because I spent my days for the past year and a half taking classes online, I even forgot where some of the academic buildings are. It’s a bit embarrassing when a freshman asks for directions to Boswell, and you struggle to answer. I am aware of how fortunate I am to have experienced one normal semester at William and Mary; however, I feel out of my element and comfort zone as it feels like I’m restarting all of the progress I had previously made. My hope is that the University and professors will be understanding as all students learn to navigate back toward successful in-person learning and communication with others. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought hardship and setbacks to each and every one of us, and I think we all deserve some grace as we help each other back to “normal” circumstances.
The Transfer Experience
By: Aleya Penn'24
Sitting on the bleachers, watching our OAs dance around, hearing the giggles, and witnessing the gasps of awe of what had started to feel like a real community, I felt no different than the other freshmen sitting behind me.
We were all experiencing the same things: the same sense of belonging, the same excitement, and the same anxious emotions surrounding starting a new chapter. A new chapter that many of us had longed for, from being cooped up in our homes to trying to navigate adolescence. It felt like a sigh of relief to be surrounded by so many of my peers, even though the masks we wore hid our faces full of anticipation.
It wasn’t until my friends stood up and started chanting the ‘Transfers and more’ chants that I realized that I had a different experience than everyone surrounding me. I realized that I was surrounded by a group of people who had so many differing experiences, ranging from time at community college to a year in St. Andrews. The people who chose to transfer here, were the people who defied the odds by choosing a different path and transferring to The College of William and Mary.
The unique transfer experience was exacerbated by the circumstances that we were surrounded by this year: the face masks, the to-go dining, and the overarching apprehension of completing yet another year of college over Zoom. Despite the strain that comes with being in an unfamiliar environment, I can confidently say that I was embraced by a warm welcome into the community that I have come to love. However, being a transfer, especially an international transfer student, seemed intimidating at first, and it was definitely a different experience than what many of the freshmen experienced. I came into the community at William & Mary not knowing anybody and not having a safety net of familiar faces to fall back into. Even though the close-knit community of the campus felt intimidating initially, the more I spent time on campus, the more I realized how welcoming my peers were, despite how we ended up on campus.
Yet, I have become proud to be associated with what I have come to know as the ‘transfers and more,’ were amazing people from different walks of life who were willing to step out of their comfort zones, take a risk, and take matters into their own hands to ensure that they were doing what was best for them. The people around me, the ‘transfers and more’, were people I admired, people that I know will be such a big addition to the community here at William and Mary.
My Remote Freshman Year
By: Jin Wen Xie'24
“I just need you to sign off here, so that we can record that you’ve already got your Tribe Card and then you should be good to go!”
My fingers gently clutched the rectangular green and yellow piece of plastic, and my awkward picture smiled back at me. After scribbling down on the clipboard already filled with names of other students, no doubt first-timers to living on campus as well, student ID in hand, I set off to my dorm room.
The very first thing to pop out at me during our arrival was the thick waves of humidity around us. I'd heard forewarning of Williamsburg’s swampy climate and, overestimating my experience with northern Virginia’s humid climate. I thought that I’d be able to handle the so-called treacherous late summer heat of the Fall semester.
I was very wrong.
The unassuming and quiet heat of Williamsburg seemed to seep into every particle of my body as I walked up and down three flights of stairs, often gasping for air through my mask while carrying various dorm items. By the time my aunt, uncle, and I were done bringing my luggage up to my floor, we were sweating profusely. Thankfully, my dorm room had air conditioning, lest my entire being melt from the sweltering heat. Following the setup of my dorm and a celebratory lunch, my aunt and uncle gave me one last hug, and I was officially living on campus.
Initially, one would think that living at home and attending college through Zoom during my freshman year sounds like the perfect scenario, but after almost a year and a half of being quarantined at home due to a global pandemic, most of us home-bound have become incredibly restless for a taste of the outside world. I have struggled with the frustrations of online learning. I missed the in-person nature of presentations and the ability to actually communicate with other people face-to-face. Sure, being a remote student has its advantages (namely, the ability to roll out of bed, throw on some clothes, and go to class with a click of a button five minutes before class starts), but the blurring of boundaries between school and homemade going to class miserable for me. Hence, the primary reason I came onto campus for this semester was the option of having in-person classes. I noticed right away that with in-person learning, my college experience has dramatically improved. With the high levels of vaccinated students and faculty members on campus, I felt as if this semester much more closely resembled a normal semester. According to my roommate and friends, dining halls and general socialization (albeit with social distancing still in place) have become a lot more relaxed. Students were even allowed to take off their masks when walking outside, granting me huge relief from the summer heat while going from one brick building to another.
Alas, the more relaxed COVID rules can change in a blink of an eye. Recently, the College announced that due to a sudden spike in cases, the previously mentioned relaxed regulations were scrapped, and we were back to stricter codes of living. Soon, some of my classmates in certain classes had to self-isolate, and it felt as if we were going back to previous times of lockdown. On the bright side, the College is taking the necessary steps to curb the possibility of any huge spread of COVID, so the stricter measures were understandable. However, the ever-present looming thought of COVID restrictions becoming even stricter continues to be on the back of my mind.
Despite all having significantly different experiences, we all ended up back in Williamsburg ready to take on the unique challenges found in W&M. The differences in our college experience so far did not stop us from exploring the unique college environment of W&M; they have made our college community ties even stronger.
*Note: The article was republished due to technical errors at 9:45 PM on August 24th, 2024. The original publication date is October 12th, 2021.
*Note: The article was republished due to website maintenance and grammatical issues. The original publication date is October 12th, 2021.
Commentaires