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WRITER: AGRIZHA PUSPITA SARI PHOTOGRAPHER: SOLOMON MYERS
Turning 21 when you’re facing a dark time like the pandemic is challenging, as you can’t celebrate your birthday as you normally would with friends and family. Celebrating reaching the legal drinking age, which often feels like the last stage in becoming an adult, should be the best moment of the year. But now that we are all isolated in a pandemic, how have students experienced turning 21? Blair Stone, a fourth-year student studying animal biology at Oregon State, said that she is in a sorority and a bunch of her friends turned 21 around the same time so she was hoping to throw a little party at her new apartment with friends and go to the bars together. “I was totally bummed out,” Stone said. “However, a lot of my friends are the same age and were experiencing the same thing so knowing I wasn’t the only one made me feel a lot better. I was grateful to be home and around family during these times. “There were definitely more freedoms involved with it, as in finally ordering drinks at restaurants and going to bars, but when I was freshly 21 a lot of those things weren’t an option.” For Leah Kahn, a third-year student studying management and theatre arts at OSU, she hasn’t really compared what her 21st birthday would have looked like outside of the pandemic. 34
“I think I’ve been in COVID-19 period for so long, that I didn’t even think of what I wished my birthday would be like in a non-COVID world,” Kahn said. “I do miss big parties and having all my friends under one roof. But focusing on what I can’t have just makes me sad, so I learned to focus on the exciting things I can do.” When students reach the legal drinking age, they often have a wish list or bucket list of things to do, possibly years in advance, to celebrate the milestone. With the pandemic, this wish list has changed for some students as they turned 21. “I jot down a list of things I need to do and accomplish by certain times, including little things like showering or cleaning my room,” Stone said. “Crossing these things off helps me feel more accomplished and productive. So, essentially, just taking things a day at a time helps me stay sane.” “My mom took me to get my hair and nails done, and then we edited my book of poems in the backyard together,” Kahn said. “Then we got dressed up and went out to eat with the rest of my family at Del Alma downtown. Then we came home, opened presents and played part of the 1980’s game, ‘Dragonmaster,’ before we got too tired, and all went to bed. “I was very happy and satisfied with what I had. I had a really awesome day and got to eat incredible food. Most people might think
