I was halfway through my junior year of high school when the COVID-19 pandemic began, an event that changed just about every aspect of my life, including how I went to school. That was two years ago, and I am now just about done with my first semester as a college student. A lot has changed in the last two years and going back to school after quarantine has many of its pros and cons.

For starters, going to class finally feels a bit more personal again. No longer am I stuck staring at a bunch of grey boxes on my screen, now I see my friends, my professors. The transition back to in-person classes was a little awkward, I definitely do not appreciate having to actually get up more than five minutes before class and make myself look presentable. Being able to see my friends and go places again has made me feel much less alone, and I can’t imagine having to go to school in a new place during quarantine. It’s easy to feel isolated when you enter a new place and I’m sure having to go to class online and staying in your room everyday certainly doesn’t help that isolation go away.

It isn’t just new students that have to adjust to the new changes. Junior Mose Greene described what school was like at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Classes were difficult because a majority of them were strictly online. It’s hard to have real discussions over Zoom, you start to feel like you’re just being lectured. It’s hard because a lot of these topics were things you actually needed to talk about,” Greene said.

Students were required to get their temperature checked and needed to wear wristbands everywhere they went, whether it was to go to class, or to go chill and eat at the MAC. 

This led to a heightened level of uncertainty on campus, many students found themselves concerned about going anywhere. “I found myself thinking whether it was really worth going out, even just to class, there was really no way of knowing if it was safe,” said Greene.

Since then, regulations have been lowered significantly. Students do not have to get their temperature taken, and there is currently no mask mandate in effect on campus, though masks are still highly encouraged by administration. This adds a level of personal responsibility. It’s up to each individual to take the precautions they feel necessary.

In general, I feel a lot better about my education this year than I did last year. I found it a lot harder to try and keep myself motivated in school when I wasn’t actually seeing my teachers and peers on a daily basis. It was up to me to keep myself disciplined and orderly, which is not something I’m particularly good at. Having the presence of a professor, and being in a setting designed for me to pay attention and learn, has made schoolwork a lot more manageable and I feel as though I am more prepared to succeed in classes.