Adjusting to life on campus in an unpredictable year
Like many of my peers, I grew up knowing I wanted to go to college. To me, postsecondary education would be the culmination of years of hard work in school and a launching point to start my career.
Stressing about my GPA and spending hours studying for the ACT and AP tests — it was all to help me get to my first year of college. I watched hours of college question-and-answer sessions and dorm move-in videos, starting in seventh grade, and I listened to countless stories from friends and online sources of on-campus adventures, all-nighters and parties.
Starting my long-awaited freshman year of college amid a pandemic is far from what I planned for and dreamed about.
I am one of a handful of students who had the option to move on campus and meet peers in person. Though I’m grateful for the opportunity to have a taste of this college lifestyle, my classes this semester are online only, and my arrival to campus was far from what I expected.
Students were told to pack as if we were staying for two weeks, just in case officials had to send us home early. As soon as I stepped foot on Yale’s campus, I was whisked away to be tested for COVID-19. I then quarantined in my room for several days until the results came back. Until all of my suite mates’ results came back negative, we could not interact with each other; even afterward, all of us in the residential college were quarantined there for two weeks.
It’s been strange adjusting to counting the number of people in a room before entering, keeping track of in-person interactions for contact tracing purposes, taking biweekly COVID19 tests and worrying that a simple headache could be a symptom. Classes are also a new experience, as I’m unable to connect with professors and classmates outside of Zoom. Unlike my final semester in high school, I’m now using an alien college-level curriculum, working with professors and classmates I’ve never met before. It was also strange to feel like the professors’ experiment as they shifted their usual teaching content into a digital format.
Still, I’m grateful to have this opportunity to learn and grow, and I’m working to recognize the silver linings and blessings along the way.
The biggest upside has been finding new ways to connect with people; I have a new perspective on the meaning of community.
There are no handshakes, hugs or parties. Meeting people I know I’ll live with and graduate with now means playing online games like scribl.io and Among Us over Zoom and having socially distanced dance-offs in a courtyard. I’ve found micro-communities to get involved in, from extracurricular activities like juggling and sustainability groups, to simply participating in arbitrary rivalries between residential colleges. Freshman counselors have also set up “Coffee Chats” to pair random students together for conversations and have created online movie nights to create a sense of belonging for students.
Personally, I’ve felt the most welcomed by the Native American Cultural Center and the Association of Native Americans at Yale. Even though our meetings are over Zoom, I feel comfortable in a space with people who share similar backgrounds as me. Peers in this group are those I joke with and know I can rely on during this first — and totally unpredictable — year.
I am realizing through this unique experience that community does not have to mean in-person meetups. Instead, it’s about finding people to learn from and grow with and creating positive connections in whatever ways you can.