By Tayhana Taylor, World News Editor
Starting college is an experience many freshmen look forward to. Unfortunately for the freshmen students who started their college journey in 2020, this new experience looked a bit different. Many students’ first year was filled with meeting new friends and professors through a square computer screen on Zoom, attending first-year orientation virtually, and participating in many socially-distant on-campus activities.
While some students had the luxury of leaving their homes to attend classes on campus, some incoming freshmen, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, found it safer and easier to use the Connected Classroom learning modality Saint Leo University offered during the academic year.
“I used the Connected Classroom option during the fall because I choose to stay in Colombia. For the spring semester, I was able to come on campus and utilize the hybrid modality,” said Angelica Molina, a freshman majoring in global studies with a minor in world politics. “Being on Zoom for the first semester definitely affected my learning because of the temptations and distractions that are around when I am at home.”
During this past academic year, many clubs and organizations have had to alter the way they met as a group, to ensure that students who were not on campus would still be able to participate in on-campus activities.
“I joined the Gold Rush Dance team while I was in Colombia. In the fall semester, our coach created a hybrid modality,” said Molina. “Half of the team was practicing on campus and the other half was online. I am also a member of Lead Scholars, and this year all our meetings were held over Zoom, except for special award ceremonies, which were hybrid.”
Molina hopes that she will eventually get to have a normal college semester in the fall of 2021.
“In the fall I am looking forward to more on-campus activities because I think that helps to unite us a community,” said Molina. “As many more students, staff, and faculty take the vaccine, I also hope to see a successful transition with activities being held completely in-person.”
Like Molina, Geossica Madden—a freshman from Jamaica, majoring in marketing with a minor in hospitality management—also completed her first semester of college using the Connected Classroom modality. But once Madden stepped foot on campus in the spring, she made sure to make up for all the activities she missed during the fall.
“As soon as I got on campus, I tried to be as involved as I possibly could,” said Madden. “I joined the Saint Leo Radio Station “The Dream Room,” and meetings for this club were held both in-person and online. I am also a member of Saint Leo’s Esports team. As a team, we practiced in-person in the Esports Arena, but there were options available for those team members who were fully connected.”
While Madden was able to attend on-campus classes during the spring, her learning and level of focus were affected during the fall when she took classes via the Connected Classroom option.
“It is hard for me to learn through a screen because I am more of a tactile learner and I need human interaction,” she said. “The inability to be in a physical classroom severely affected my level of motivation. Connected learning was hard for me, as there would be times when I did not want to go to classes because I lacked motivation.”
It seems as though many freshman students enjoyed the hybrid learning option Saint Leo offered as a way of providing students with a sense of “normalness” throughout this abnormal semester.
“Hybrid learning has been much better for me, since I have been able to actually attend in-person classes with my professors,” said Madden.
Aside from missing out on in-person activities, it was challenging for some students to socialize during the pandemic. Madden mentioned that she made sure to find ways to interact and socialize with family members and friends.
“I set up a lot of Zoom meetings and Facetime calls with my friends and family, so I could have an adequate level of human interaction,” said Madden.
Ashley Tucker, a freshman majoring in criminalistics with a minor in psychology, shared that being on campus for both the fall and spring semester gave her a sense of “normalness.”
“I lived on campus for both semesters. During the fall semester, I joined the Campus Activities Board (CAB), all of our meetings were held over zoom because of the need to avoid in-person interaction as much as possible,” said Tucker. “Although my first year of college was during a pandemic, I am still thankful that I got to join the CAB and meet new people. It gave me a chance to establish a little on-campus family.”
The Campus Activities Board plays an integral role in planning and hosting campus events. As the Special Events Chair, Tucker mentioned that planning some of the socially distant activities was a bit challenging at times.
“It was frustrating and difficult at times to get everything organized because of the protocols we had to follow to get our plans approved,” she said. “For example, we would have to ensure we are stating how we will maintain social distancing and how we will ensure the students wear their masks at all times during these activities.”
Those who were able to attend on-campus events had to remain six feet apart because of COVID-19 safety protocols, but this did not prevent students from still getting engaged.
“While social distancing was not the ideal situation, we tried our best to make the activities as inclusive as possible,” said Tucker. “Sometimes, before or after an event, we would do a sing-along with students or make jokes to make the students feel engaged.”
Tucker further mentioned, “one of the things that helped me cope during this pandemic year, while being away from my family, was ensuring that I talked to my family on the phone as much as I could. I did not meet with my professors in-person as much as I would in a normal setting, but I stayed in touch with them via email and Zoom office hours.”
Freshmen like Berkel Anderson, an international student from the Bahamas majoring in Biology, shared that not being on campus for her first year of college made her feel as though she was missing out.
“I used the Connected Classroom option for both the fall and spring semester,” said Anderson. “I wanted to engage more in on-campus activities and join more organizations, but I hope that I get to do all of this in the upcoming fall semester.”
Quite a number of these freshmen students are looking forward to experiencing a normal college semester during their sophomore year.
“I am definitely looking forward to more in-person events this upcoming fall,” said Nicholae Robinson, a freshman majoring in cybersecurity with a minor in criminal justice. “The activities we did on campus this year were enjoyable, so I can only imagine how much better it will be when the majority of the school’s population is back on campus.”
Whether the class of 2024 started at Saint Leo University on campus or in their homes on Zoom, many of them remain hopeful that they will regain the normal freshman experience they missed out on during the pandemic.
