Making Up for Lost Time

BY SYLVIE AUGUST

MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME

On March 11, 2020, President Eric Barron announced that Penn State would be shifting to online learning with plans to return to in person classes two weeks later.

With no understanding yet of how the pandemic would impact their lives, some students rejoiced at the announcement and celebrated an extended spring break. As it became clear that students would not return to in-person instruction for the rest of the semester, so many factors in student lives — school, family, friends, career — began to seem cripplingly uncertain. With a future so unpredictable, a time machine would have been the best tool to see how the pandemic would play out.

MARCH 2020

As students celebrate their “extended spring break,” people all over the world shuffle into their homes in hopes to stay inside for two weeks to “flatten the curve.” The beginning of the pandemic symbolized a time of loss for millions of people.

“I just had no idea what was happening,” says second-year elementary education student, Alexandra Gurski. “School felt almost insignificant.”

“Nobody knew what was happening, and nobody knew how to handle it.”

As flowers bloom in the spring, quarantiners try out new hobbies like baking bread, watching “Tiger King” and whipping coffee. Two weeks pass, summer starts and COVID-19 cases continue to rise. Trying to get people to flatten the curve simply turns into trying to get people to wear a mask. So, what does this mean to students?

AUGUST 2020

Under the late August humidity and sun, Penn State students wonder how a “hybrid” semester will be at Zoom University. Violet Zung, a senior studying digital & print journalism, reflected on her experience throughout the pandemic as an international student. Zung was a sophomore when the pandemic began.

“I was worried that I might not be able to come back,” Zung says. “As an international student, I would not be able to be in the country [if class was on Zoom.]”

Fortunately, Zung was able to return to University Park for the semester, but she found that Penn State was not the same as she left it.

“I went in for one in-person class for fall semester,” she says. “Even that class, after a while, the professor decided to put on Zoom.”

When freshmen came to campus in August, some students felt that moving into college for the first time did not live up to their expectations. Everyone was required to wear masks everywhere, and students were not permitted to go into dorm buildings that

they did not live in. Very few classes were held in-person and spectators were not allowed in Beaver Stadium, causing the campus to feel empty throughout the fall.

“It was nice that I was finally in a new place with new people,” Gurski says. “But it was a let down because I was ready to be in the swing of things. Everything was still not normal, and I was waiting for it to be normal.”

JANUARY 2021

In order to slow the spread of infections due to travel, Penn State sent their on-campus students home in November for the Thanksgiving holiday and planned to allow them to return to campus in January. However, as cases drastically increased over winter break, the university decided to push the start of inperson instruction back until February. While the winter weather and pandemic raged, many students stayed inside and attended classes on Zoom.

“One semester was ok,” Zung says. “But the second semester trying to do the same thing from home was getting mentally exhausting.”

An emphasis on mental health emerged in popular culture due to the extremely adverse effects that the pandemic had on mental health, particularly for students. After canceling spring break, Penn State instituted “Wellness Days,” an initiative that gave students one day off per month in order to rest and focus on their personal wellness.

“I wish I could have told myself that it gets better,” Gurski says. “I think I struggled a lot because I felt like it was totally out of my control.”

As the semester drew to a close, vaccines became more widespread across the country. Many students left State College for the summer with the hope that they would return to normalcy on campus in the fall.

AUGUST 2021

Over the summer, students wondered what the fall semester would bring. “During the summer, I had a constant anxiety of thinking ‘Do I need to leave because school will be online, or do I need to stay?’” Zung says.

Returning to campus in August symbolized the return of inperson instruction and football games. In the August heat of 2020, hardly any students could be seen on campus. One year later, Beaver Stadium was at full capacity again, and the Pattee Mall was flooded with students running from class to class.

“I was ecstatic,” Gurski says. “It felt like it was finally what I was here for.”

In the fall of 2021, Penn State students started making up for lost time.