Coronavirus (COVID-19): If you are a college student.... Part 2

If you are a college student, you likely had one odd and unforgettable spring this year.  

Maybe, you struggled to get up on time for class, sleeping in a little later every day.  And, even though your class started after noon, it was still hard to log on to Zoom on time.  You may have reasoned that your professor surely wouldn't be taking the time to scroll through all the participants to see who was and was not attending on a particular day.  After all, you could always watch the recorded lecture later...

Maybe, you had trouble finishing your homework. Despite the fact that your courses had all of the same deadlines as before COVID-19 struck, those deadlines seemed distant and seemingly irrelevant as the whole world went online.  

Maybe you were unusually frustrated, because before the pandemic, you relied heavily on study groups, just hanging out and working through homework and preparing for exams together.  And during the pandemic in the spring, you did your homework alone, taking many more hours than usual to finish it and feeling a not so trivial amount of loneliness along the way.  

Maybe, you were taking a programming class and debugging in isolation would have sent you to the nearest psych ward, if the thought of catching COVID-19 hadn't scared you away.  

Maybe you were home with family and the familiar comfortable surroundings made it very hard to maintain that edge and focus that you were accustomed to having in order to stay ahead of the game when living on campus.  

Maybe you had trouble finding a quiet workspace at home that was your own for studying and concentrating.  Instead, you may have been hiding out in the kitchen to attend live Zoom classes, curling up in bed to do your homework, or pondering your latest essay in the shower as you struggle to find the right environment to actually learn in the middle of the chaos.  

Maybe, you had young children at home and thought you had the energy to do it all.  And, then one day, it felt as if you were having to haul a truck of bricks with you as you got of bed in the morning. Exhausted.  Pushed to the limit.  

Maybe, you thought everything was fine until as the weeks wore on, it was harder to sleep, harder to study, and harder to do everything.  

The maybe's make for a long, long list of how things were different in the spring, but for all of us, students, faculty, staff, and everyone else invested in the college and university, we all hoped and often took for granted that in the fall term, things would go back to the way they were.  

But here we are, a few weeks for many and a couple of months for some from the start of the fall term and COVID-19 in the United States is exploding, threatening another shutdown in many states and splashing unprecedented turmoil across the headlines of every major news outlet.  And, your university has just made its most recent announcement about the new "hybrid" model of instruction that will dominate instruction and campus life during the fall term.   This new "hybrid" model replaces the old "hybrid" model that just a few weeks ago seemed like the best course of action.  Things are changing so fast that it's hard to keep up with what school is going to look like in the Fall.  

The bottom line for the Fall term, no matter where you are in the world, is the sooner we reduce the spread of COVID-19 to a reproduction rate of 1 or less (i.e. a reproduction rate of 1 means that on average, an infected person infects only one other person), the sooner we can all relax into a new normal that we can adapt to and sustain, unlike the chaotic landscape we are facing now.   

If you are a college student heading into Fall term on your campus, whether virtually or in person, no one is expecting you to be superhuman.  But the best thing you can do coming into the new semester or quarter is to spend the time to reflect and understand what your needs are, devise creative and ingenious ways to meet them without risking a coronavirus infection or spreading an infection, and invite those you trust to help in coming up with a strategy that works for you.   

Some food for thought along these lines:

• If you form a social bubble or social network (a small group of friends committed to hanging out in the same physical space only with each other), choose people you trust and can get along with.   A social bubble is only as secure (and non-infectious) as its most unpredictable member.  Members of a social bubble should feel comfortable "interviewing" each other on a regular basis to understand if any individual has taken a risk that could result in infection of the whole group.
• In the first few weeks of school, if you find yourself often getting frustrated with your courses, set up a one-on-one appointment with your instructor or teaching assistant to brainstorm solutions that work for you. If you already have an idea what could work for you, be prepared to propose it to your instruction team.   Don't wait until you are tearing your hair out in frustration.
• Don't be afraid to ask your instructors to help you find compatible study buddies.  
• When out and about, commit to wearing a face mask properly to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.   Fight the temptation to lower or remove your mask while speaking or singing to avoid spewing aerosols into the airspace of people around you.

• When spending time with those outside of your social bubble, seek out well ventilated indoor or outdoor spaces to minimize spreading infection.  Fight the temptation to go without a mask.  
• Avoid drinking or otherwise altering your consciousness in situations that are anything but low risk.   For example, if you drink, confine your happy hours to your social bubble.
• Explore different ways to meaningfully connect with old friends or new people online.  Develop the relationships remotely and look at the bright side.  It's a lot easier to end an awkward first date or a disastrous second date when it's online than in person.  

As I write this, I am very aware that it's been a long time since I was a college student and I could be missing the boat on a lot.  The bottom line is -- avoid spreading the aerosols that come out of your body into the airspace of others.  Wash your hands often to avoid any risk of infection that comes from touching contaminated surfaces.   And, know yourself.  Don't deny being human.  What creative (and legal) ways can you come up with to meet your intellectual, emotional, and spiritual needs while remaining careful not to catch or spread COVID-19?  

I invite you to bring creative solutions to the table with your college or university.  How can this "altered college environment" help you to build support networks, form study groups, enable social interactions, and otherwise restructure how and what is taught so that your needs as a student are met this coming term?  

By the way, your professors are watching who comes to class and who doesn't, who finishes homework and who doesn't.  We aren't watching you because we want to penalize you when you mess up either. We are watching you because we are concerned and we all want to better reach you across the great Zoom divide.  Help us by reaching back and letting us understand better what you are experiencing and how we can help.

As a professor, I wish I could give you the traditional classroom setting that we've had in the past.  I can't do that right now... but that doesn't change my mission and that of your college or university... to support you in gaining an education that will enable you to do fabulous and wonderful things in a future where COVID-19 is a distant memory.   

Let's stay safe and beat this thing... 

About the Author:

Denise Wilson is managing director for Coming Alongside Environmental Services and also serves as a faculty member in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Washington.