BY SANDRA GUY
Yes, college has changed and it’s easy to take refuge in bemoaning the communal benefits that students have been denied.
After all, higher education’s great success centers on students meeting peers from different backgrounds, experiences, ethnic groups and other worldviews.
But a knee-jerk reaction to take a gap year or a gap quarter isn’t necessarily the answer. After all, students who do so may risk losing the chance to re-enroll at any time they wish, or run into complications with tuition refunds, and they may have to resubmit financial-aid applications.
Think first of the opportunities that even such a heartbreaking curse such as the coronavirus pandemic might provide. Just this past quarter, students showed they had the self-confidence to forge ahead, putting out the student newspaper, creating radio shows and anchoring the TV news show, as well as gutting out Zoom classes, online quizzes and virtual deadlines to continue learning.
They learned about each other in new ways — with peeks inside people’s homes during Zoom classes, written conversations in online discussion boards and figuring out how to best set up lighting for the best Zoom look.
Even extracurricular activities kept running, with student leaders reimagining how to recruit members, raise money and hold remote auditions. One student worried that dance auditions via Zoom would be unfair because any student who relied on a library for Internet access couldn’t just bust a move amid the study carrels.
The group decided to have dance team captains choreograph short dances and let candidates submit videos in a membership-controlled social media site of themselves auditioning.
Other groups held online events and screenings that prospective members could watch, or movie nights to create a sense of community. Another paired would-be members with a virtual sister or brother to bond with the group.
One upside is that students who’d otherwise have to commute, take public transportation or care for family members at home could jump online and get involved in activities they couldn’t have done in person. The online forums let students more easily drop in and try out extracurricular activities. And students who consider themselves introverts could more calmly plug into a Zoom chat or just watch a communal event. It’s also possible to join with peers from throughout the world to create new connections that students had never before made time for.
Perhaps without even realizing it, students developed valuable skills that will serve them well throughout life: You have to pivot when life throws you a curveball. You have to stretch, learn new skills, spell out your goals in detail, motivate people to follow you, reach across a divide into the unknown.
Keep reaching into that expanse. You’ll be glad you did.