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Florida Gulf Coast University
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2020-03-12
Life of a College Student During The Covid-19 Pandemic
My Story begins in Newberry, South Carolina, in March of 2020. During this time, I was a sophomore at Newberry College. Newberry is small town with very little to do. So, three of my friends and I plan to drive to Charleston, South Carolina, for the weekend. Our plans were to hang out at a beach all day then go have dinner with my friend’s parents. Unfortunately, this plan got cut short after receiving an email from the school around 3pm. The email stated that students have to leave campus within 2 days. We were all shocked by this news. Many of the students from the college are from out of state or from another country entirely. I am from Florida originally, so I have to figure out how to get home with all my stuff in two days. Fortunately for me and my friend, who is from the same town, my parents came to pick us up the second day. At this point in the pandemic, our classes either were canceled or finished online. Most teacher would just let the students pass not to put pressure on the students or themselves. During the summer, I was trying to figure out what was going on at my college, what was their plan on keeping students safe? are classes online? Where are we going to get our food if the cafeteria is closed? Ect. The college would provide little to no information on what their plans were and they were going to charge students full price for worse conditions in housing and in class. I eventually transferred to Florida Gulf Coast University; I did this for many it was cheaper, closer to home, had better education and they provided an actually plan for COVID-19. That following December, two of my friends and I contracted Covid-19. I believe we got when we went out to lunch together. Luckily, this was during our winter break, so I was not on campus and did not infect anyone else. The interesting part is how the virus effected all three of us differently, my first friend had no symptoms, the second only lost his smell and taste, and I had the rest. I had an extreme fever, soar throat, one of the worst head aches ever, bad fatigue, and my body was really soar. I quarantined for two weeks and got tested to know I was not contagious anymore. Overall, the Covid-19 virus forced a large number of students to transfer colleges or drop out and move in with their parents. Many schools, foundations, workplaces, and establishments did not have a plan or idea on how to handle the virus. Many people were let go from their jobs and are unemployed and this caused some local businesses to go under too. The most difficult this with the virus was the lack of information about it. Some people had symptoms and others did not. The information we were receiving was different from other sources. We could not trust our own government on what information to keep us safe. -
2021-02-24
Same Country Two Seperate Lives
This tweet is a great example of how different the pandemic was handled in Florida. This was tweeted on May 4th, 2020. It was the first day that Florida opened back up after shutting down for the month of April. This is significant in my experience of the pandemic because I have friends and family down here in Florida with me, where the pandemic isn’t taken as seriously. I also have friends and family up north in Wisconsin where the pandemic is handled completely different. For instance, Wisconsin didn’t open back up until late June. Since I live in Florida where stores and beaches opened up quickly, I was able to spend a lot of time outside swimming and relaxing by the beach before I went back to school in fall. This made the whole “quarantine” less miserable for me whereas I know people up north that struggled immensely as they were stuck in a shut down. The cold, gloomy weather in Wisconsin doesn’t help their case either. Additionally, my mom was able to get a job down here in Florida because she’s a teacher and schools are open and have in person learning. On the contrary, my brother who just graduated college in spring of 2020 and lives in Wisconsin still hasn’t found a job. It is now February 24th, 2021. Many companies have lost revenue by having to shut down for a few months and as a result, they let many employees go and are not looking to hire anyone else. The only potential new opportunity risen from this pandemic is that some jobs are all online now. This allows my brother to apply for jobs outside of Wisconsin if he is desperate enough. Overall, as a college student here in Florida, my life has not changed significantly. I still go to class, I still go to the beaches, and I still go shopping as long as I have my mask. -
2020-01-01
Surviving 2020 & COVID-19 Pandemic: Life As A College Student
As the ball dropped on New Year’s Day I embraced and kissed my boyfriend in excitement of what would await us in 2020, if only I knew. As we said our goodbyes to our friends we drove home on a side road to avoid the frantic traffic of drunk drivers and people rushing to get home. All I remember is driving in front of my boyfriend’s car and then waking up to him sobbing over me. My car lights were on, sunroof open, glass shattered everywhere, my blood stained on my wheel and purple bruises on ribs. Long story short I was smashed into by a drunk driver, my car flipped, rolled, and was finally crushed into a tree with me inside while my significant other watched it unravel before his eyes. This was my beginning to 2020 and I wished and hoped that it would only be better from there on but I was horribly wrong. On March 11th of 2020 I received an email from my university stating that it would be closed and urged all students to return home for the remainder of the semester. As many college students saw this as an extended spring break at the time we were all happy since it basically meant more partying. After week one passed of receiving the email I quickly realized that being isolated would be my downfall and it sure was. By the end of the Spring semester I had failed a couple classes and was desperately trying to crawl out of a depressive episode. Since I am, or rather struggling to be a nursing student still, failing my Anatomy and Physiology I class sent me into a spiral of what ifs and how my GPA would recover from these failed courses. The realization of retaking these courses in order to save my future and using my only two chances of “erasing” my unsatisfactory grades crushed me. I was shattered by this reality but continued to push myself through Summer term to ace these courses, I studied day and night sacrificing friendships and days out for an A. As Summer came to an end Fall came and I barely passed the classes online because I struggled to adapt and truly retain the material meanwhile peers in my class were either completely giving up or cheating their way through the online, remote exams. To add the cherry on top, I was battling my university’s Housing Board in order to cancel my dorm agreement because many COVID cases had been recorded in my building and my roommates still went out to clubs while not wearing masks. As the months passed and semesters came and went, I felt my sanity slipping and today I still sit in fear of my future. I struggle leaving my apartment due to the fear of exposure to COVID and accidentally passing it onto my only parent who suffers from lupus. This pandemic has truly crushed me and unfortunately it seems that I will be spending the remainder of my college life and 20s in this chaotic, barren, and lonely society where we only see each other screen to screen. -
2020-11-11
Covid-19 - Higher Education
It is now almost time to wrap up my fourth semester of college at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida. I've always been told ‘as you get old time goes by faster’ and wow if that isn’t one of the truest things i've ever heard. We are in the middle of week thirteen of sixteen. My university, I'm sure many others, have suggested students miss out on Thanksgiving break this year because of the risk we bring Covid-19 home to our families and the community and potentially infect others. Luckily, I do not have any final exams and my in person class after Thanksgiving is giving us the option to go home and complete our work from there. I have decided I will be going home and I plan on getting a Covid-19 test before then to ensure I am not bringing any germs from my university home to my family. Despite the addition of masks this semester nothing seems like it has changed. Students are still deciding upon partying and having large get togethers. It is obvious that many students must think Covid-19 is ‘fake’ or they are ‘immune’ because they continue to put themselves at risk every weekend. Many universities and school systems across the United States have had to transition to complete remote learning once again because of outbreaks in classrooms, residence halls, and Greek life organizations. Covid-19 is not a ‘hoax’, it is very real and should be taken seriously as people's lives and jobs are depending on it. -
2020-09-25
College and COVID
When COVID-19 first appeared in Wuhan, China, I, like many others, thought that it wasn’t going to be a big deal. It would be contained, it wouldn’t spread very far, and the people of China would take the necessary precautions needed to prevent its spread to other countries. Sure, I had heard the jokes of every 20 year in a century having a new plague, but those were just jokes, right? I didn’t know how wrong I had been. As COVID spread, I was still in denial of how bad it would get in the United States. My university, Florida Gulf Coast University, was still intent on staying open through the end of the semester. However, three days after getting back from spring break, the Florida Board of Governors issued that starting Monday, all universities would move to all-online for two weeks. Along with many others, I packed up to go home for two weeks, though I didn’t have much confidence that I would be returning at the end. True to mine and everyone else’s guess, the all-online was extended through the end of the summer. Still having hope that I’d return to campus in the fall, I registered for five in-person classes, finished up my spring semester with all As, and got a job at Culver’s for the summer. I struggled with the mask at first, mainly due to my sensory processing issues, which made it difficult for me to get used to constantly having something over my face. Now, I’m used to it and I wear it whenever I leave my dorm room. Although I returned to campus for the fall semester, it’s due to my on-campus job. All of my classes had been moved to online formatting, which has not been easy. All online classes are typically more work than in-person ones since you have to teach yourself the material. Life during COVID-19 has definitely been interesting, to say the least. -
2020-03-07
FGCU Email Cancelling all Face to Face Classes
This was an email sent from the president of the school relaying the message that all face to face classes were canceled and we will have to finish off the semester from home. -
2020-03-11
The day that Corona altered my life.
This image shows the day that school was officially suspended at Florida Gulf Coast University