March, a month that students look forward to as midterms get completed and spring break rolls in. The weather starts to warm up if we are lucky and the greenery starts to reappear. Spring sports have a start on the season they have been working for all year. Students begin to buckle down in the semester and are finally getting comfortable with their spring schedule, responsibilities and new professors perhaps. Spring break offers a week of mid semester relaxation to recoup with friends or family. NCAA athletes enter into their early competitions with sights on a postseason and even a championship. Does this sound like March of 2020? COVID-19 has forced universities to shut their doors and transition to an online mode of learning for their students. This sudden and substantial change in learning has brought on much stress, anxiety and emotion in students, yet the only option we have is to comply and make the best of material provided. Suddenly, March is now not only the beginning of a new season but the beginning a pandemic. Spring has sprung.
For students specifically, COVID-19 has uprooted lives in many ways and will force us to manage multiple challeneges. First being that we all must adapt to the new online lectures and exams. This generation’s fluency with technology will make the online component less challenging from a technical standpoint, but what are the consequences to our learning? Online lacks the face to face experience many students prefer when learning and may make it more difficult to ask questions or ask a classmate a quick question; this is a great way to learn/ gain understanding. Many professors prefer to set up meetings and strongly suggest students to attend their office hours for supplemental help as Dr. Martin says, “we can accomplish more face-2-face and speaking in 15 minutes or so than we might in 10 emails.” The question is now, how do we match face to face efficiency through online communication?
Another challenge students now face is with their social lives. Moving back home away from friends, heavily decreasing social interaction due to online modules and social distancing practices, as well as being taken out of their niche and routine can be mentally difficult for students. Many people thrive off structure and routine of classes or even just day to day life. Students’ routines being uprooted will be a major challenge and source of needed adjustment for most. For any of my peers reading this, I am offering a few suggestions on how to stay productive in our situation below.
- Make yourself a daily schedule
- if zoom lectures are asynchronous- schedule out times when you will listen to recordings or review the material and complete assignments weekly
- schedule in times to be active, do something for yourself, study and spend time with family/friends (within precautions)
- Maintain daily hygiene
- Can your classmates smell your breath or that BO? No, but simple tasks like brushing your teeth, showering, changing out of pajamas, styling your hair and dressing as if you were going to regular class will make you feel better
- Add in some extra self-care into your routine such as a face mask, exfoliation or trying a new product
- Stay active
- Sitting in front of a screen all day will lead to burnout quickly, take frequent breaks (every 30-60 min) and you will actually be more productive and retain information better
- Many social media influencers are posting equipment-less, at home workouts that can be done anywhere- give one a try!
- Go on walks or runs outside to get fresh air
- Try to reach 10,000 steps a day
- Reach out
- Despite social distancing and quarantine practices, keeping daily communication with friends and relatives over facetime, text, call and email will brighten your day
- Think about the healthcare professionals on the front line and see what you can do to help them
- Be active in community resources/donations to the elderly and those in need during times of crisis
For athletes, this has been an even more devastating week. The NCAA suspended all spring seasons meaning there will be no further competitions. For my team and all others impacted by this suspension, it was truly heartbreaking to hear. In our offseason we wake up before sunrise to be on the field by six am warmed up ready to practice for two hours every day. We push our bodies to their max in lift and practice for nine months to prepare for the three months we call our season. We sacrifice weekends and family time to play in tournaments because we want to be better than the next team. We are given team issued gear that we are proud to wear and represent Bloomsburg Women’s Lacrosse. Then, rumors begin to go around that seasons are being canceled or temporarily suspended due to COVID-19 as we enter into our spring break which we had to stay on campus for. Nobody thought this would actually happen to us. I am writing this blog as my team and I’s season got cut twelve, possibly more games too short. Nine months of preparation for a five-game season. My heart reaches out to my seniors because this was their year, yet everything got taken from them within days. The senior season is destined to be the best one yet for many. Thankfully, the NCAA has granted an extra year of edibility, but this is not an option for many student-athletes financially or practically. This season suspension is an all too early end for many sports careers.
The takeaway I am promising here is this: despite having eight am classes, walking to campus when it is twenty degrees because the bus is nowhere to be seen, barely being able to walk because your legs are so sore from lift and committing hours to Andruss Library for an exam that you ended up getting a D on anyway – we cannot take anytime for granite. It may be frustrating and the worst at the time, but these moments are what build us. The inconveniences and experiences Bloomsburg University puts us through shape us and it is within ourselves that we must use them to become our best selves. A major lesson is to be learned from COVID-19, and I am sure more lessons are to come as research develops.
Erica Wolfgang's Blog 