Students like the graduating seniors, who have had their schedules thrown into chaos by the quarantine.
By Pat Hickey
Colleges and universities around the nation are forced to move their classes and activities to virtual for the remainder of the school year due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Not having to physically go to class may seem like an advantage. However, for some seniors, the disadvantages that come along with this are much more detrimental than imagined.
Whether it’s dealing with the technical difficulties in Zoom meetings, or having to pack up your belongings and go home, these issues are making the quick end to senior year worse. After speaking with a few seniors here at Quinnipiac it’s obvious that this “extended spring break” is no fun and games, and for some it means some serious re-planning and structuring.
The current seniors have every right to be upset with how their final semester has ended, according to Quinnipiac seniors Steve Fitzpatrick and Hannah Harris, who say this situation isn’t as good as it may sound. “This just really sucks,” Fitzpatrick said. “I have friends in my classes that I won’t be able to see, possibly ever again.”
Harris feels similarly with Fitzpatrick’s statements, but with all the other extras that go into graduating college she feels as though we are getting robbed out of what we deserve.
“I understand that it seems easy and fun to have online classes for the rest of the semester, but combined with working from home, pressure of graduating soon and finding a job, having our senior year cancelled feels like we did all this work for nothing,” Harris said.
Clubs and organizations on campus have been negatively affected as well. Senior Justin Marin, President of the Marketing club here at Quinnipiac, gives a glimpse of how clubs are affected by the pandemic.
“It sucks for all of the members because we had some really exciting events and field trips planned for the remainder of the semester, which we can no longer do,” Marin said. “We also lost out on a whole lot of revenue opportunities and had to return over $300 to businesses we planned on working with because we can no longer deliver what was promised.”
For Emily Eichholtz, a senior studying psychology, using her remaining credits on art classes turned out to be a lot more frustrating than expected. “ I purposely took two art classes this semester to utilize the supplies and studio art time,” Eichholtz said. “Now I have to go out and not only buy my own supplies, but also have to re-design my projects.”
Students like Julian Rigi don’t have the luxury of being able to drive home, and having to pack up your belongings and re-adjusting to the new semester is trickier than what most students have to deal with. Rigi is from Idaho, and the time zone difference makes his earlier classes a lot more difficult to make.
“It has been hell on earth,” Rigli Said. “ So my 8 a.m.’s are now at 5 a.m., and my 9 a.m.’s are now at 6 a.m.”