The last month of my college education was taken away quite recently and I find myself upset at the matter. Should I have graduated in four years instead of five? If so, I wouldn’t be dealing with being a college student during COVID-19 but instead could be possibly dealing with unemployment.
I have to say, dealing with this as a college student is 100x less stressful than if I were a full-time employee because the possibilities are endless. I don’t even know where to begin. Would my employer care about us and have us working from home or would we all be laid off?
These are questions I don’t have to ask myself since I took an extra year to earn my bachelor’s degree. As a five year senior, I’ve sometimes looked down on myself for taking too long. But then I remember my achievements. I never took a year off, I’ve always been a full-time student and I’ve always had income thanks to an internship I snagged as a freshman at UNK.
And thanks to that, I am guaranteed pay now until I graduate. No matter if there is work to be done or not, I don’t have to stress about not receiving a paycheck nor if I have the money to afford rent. I am beyond grateful that those are items on the agenda that don’t need to be addressed.
On the other hand, isolation is hard. I like my alone time as much as the most introverted person ever, but I also need social interaction. Yes, zoom meetings are fine and dandy, but I need gut-wrenching laughter and understanding from my real friends and I need it physically.
I am much luckier than others, as I have a significant other who I get to see every day. But others, such as my girlfriend, live by themselves. This makes isolation much harder to bare and I understand that. My heart goes out to her and my mother as they take on COVID-19 isolation by themselves.
But for me, my boyfriend is still working at CHS, a grain elevator in Elm Creek. So, although he is home during the evenings he isn’t during the day. This allows me to complete any homework or internship work that needs to be completed before he heads home around 5 p.m.
Isolation in that regard is good. I can spend the entire day working in my home office and complete assignments, all thanks to the multimedia department loaning me a fast Mac laptop. If it weren’t for Doctor Nannette, I would be in a very slow predicament as my Mac desktop is incredibly slow.
So even though my last month of physical higher-education was taken away from me in a matter of weeks, I have the resources, the equipment and the people I need in order to overcome this virus.
I am upset that my last month at my internship was taken away, as I have grown a relationship with my coworkers for the past five years and when I graduate, it will be the last of my years at the Kearney Area Community Foundation.
Did any of us have any idea this was going to be the outcome of 2020 graduates? Not at all. But, it takes sacrifice and dedication to grow great people and I believe those graduating in 2020, whether you are a higher schooler, college graduate or higher will overcome this isolation and we will come out stronger, together.
Jasmine's Blog 
What a thoughtful look at what isolation is like for you. I really like how you consider what the consequences of having graduated on schedule vs. taking an extra year. I know for myself I had planned on taking four-and-a-half years to graduate, but getting engaged got me to move things up by a semester. Things change dramatically based on the decisions we make.
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As a fifth year student, I also had more questions than answers when I would feel down. Sometimes it was hard accepting the fact that a lot of people I got to know over the years were graduating on time while I was still at UNK. Much like you, I also had reasons to feel accomplished. I don’t recall a time where I ever had plans to take time off school.
Personalty, I don’t see an issue taking an extra year. As long as you feel like you have the finical support to attend school longer, go for it. An extra year also gives anyone more time to plan our their future.
That’s great how you don’t have to worry about money. That seems to be such an important factor not just college students, but everyone in general at the moment. Good to see you’re doing well in that area of your life.
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