University Volume 24 | Issue 9 | Tuesday 16th March 2021
Today, St. Patrick’s day celebrations take place extensively, with over 70 million people proudly proclaiming their Irish ancestry - pg 12 -
With the growing community of visual artists and the love being spread consistently, women have been able to empower other women and respect the art that grows out of the other - pg 34 -
Express UCCExpress.ie
All roads lead to Tokyo for the delayed Olympic Games which will provide the platform for Jakob to become a global athletics superstar at the ‘greatest show on earth’ - pg 38 -
ONE YEAR ON, STUDENTS STILL ADAPTING TO LIFE WITH COVID-19 Writes Maeve McTaggart, News Editor March 12th marked one year from the pronouncement of the COVID-19 pandemic by the World Health Organisation and then-Taoiseach Varadkar’s address from Washington D.C. Schools, colleges and workplaces closed the following day; restaurants, retail and cafés soon followed. One year on, the nation has experienced varying degrees of lockdown and reopening - flattening the curve to being categorised as the world’s worst outbreak in January of 2021. While much has changed in a year, much has remained the same: UCC—and all higher education institutions in Ireland—have not returned to on-campus learning since the day they departed in March 2020. University Express invited students to reflect on the past year spent living with COVID-19 and recorded their responses. In March of 2020, the pandemic was gradually spreading through the world, with Italy as it’s epicentre. There were seventy cases in the Irish state when the nation went into ‘the first lockdown.’ Students were asked to think back to this time, and what their expectations were for the months ahead. The most common answer amongst the students surveyed was that the college would be closed for a short period of time: that “after a few weeks we would be back on campus and everything would be fine again,” or at least “that the pandemic would be over by summer.” Students spoke of their assumptions that COVID-10 would soon be “a distant
memory,” not still a reality a year later. most, however, commented on the toll of the pandemic and the consequencFor months, social contacts have been es it has taken on their mental health. limited as public health advice ream- The stress associated with contractined to socially distance and reduce ing and potentially spreading the vione’s bubble. This posed challenges for rus heavily impacted student’s menstudents, who went from attending face- tal health, according to respondents. to-face lectures on a bustling campus to connecting virtually to a Teams call. When asked, “How did COVID-19 afUniversity Express asked students to fect your college experience?” many describe the last year in their own terms, students commented on the difficuldefining the big moments which marked ty in setting boundaries when living, their year with COVID-19 - good or bad. learning and spending leisure time all in the same space. Students who had exOne student remarked how online-learn- perienced their first-year or longer in ing allowed them to avoid a lengthy on-campus learning found the adjustcommute to campus; others appreci- ment easier on average, the greatest loss ated their sustained ability to perform to these students was the spontaneity well in exams under the circumstances; and socialisation campus life offered:
“To begin with, many people struggled with technology, that was never the thing that bothered me the most though. I missed the coffees between lectures, casual chats with friends and a sense of time passing.” Feedback from students on the online-learning experience was balanced, but most maintained that online-learning left a lot to be desired. One first year student told University Express that the dynamics of online lectures are difficult to adapt to having never experienced them in-person, saying interaction is limited and that they are “much less likely to ask a question in a lecture because they are recorded.” Cover Story Continued on Page 3....