I’m just getting through this semester ... I don’t want to do it again

COVID-19 has disrupted everyday life around the world. It has changed the way that we engage with each other and the way that we learn as students. On Tuesday, March 10, Hofstra University decided to cancel classes for the week because a student on campus was exhibiting flu-like symptoms. I was ecstatic. I had just been given a whole week to relax and hang out with my friends on campus, not to mention the following week was spring break. 

In those two weeks, countless schools in affected areas around the country made the decision to transition the rest of the semester to an online platform. Immediately aware of what that meant, I texted my roommates and friends at Hofstra and we prayed that the rest of our freshman year wouldn’t be taken from us. Despite our prayers, on Tuesday, March 17, President Stuart Rabinowitz emailed Hofstra students to say that we were going to be fully online for the remainder of the school year. I was devastated. I had decided to live in a dorm to receive the “full college experience,” and now that experience was over. 

Now it seems likely the same could happen for the first half of my sophomore year. Schools around the nation are making the decision to hold the Fall 2020 semester online. Nobody really knows if Hofstra will follow suit, but it’s only spring now, so decisions about the fall might seem a long way off. Rabinowitz and all the other academic administrators are primarily focused on getting Hofstra students and instructors through the rest of our spring semester, all while doing their best to protect the quality of the educational experience that’s being affected by the Zoom learning format. 

I personally could do without online school. I consider myself to be an extrovert. I enjoy the ambience of college life that comes with being on campus. I genuinely enjoy going to class. As a first-generation student, I walked the halls of each building with pride. Don’t get me wrong, what my professors have done to ease our online transition is greatly appreciated, but I just cannot grasp or enjoy school when it’s completely virtual.

Everyone has a different learning style. I, for one, cannot stare at a computer all day, watch video lectures and write four-paragraph answers in place of real discussions, all from the comfort of my bed. It doesn’t feel like I’m at college. If I wanted to engage in an online format for college, I would have used Education Connection – which is a hell of a lot cheaper.

Public relations, my major, is among one of the easier majors to study virtually. Zoom Rooms and virtual lectures ensure that I am still getting the information that I paid to receive. However, it’s harder to retain the new knowledge when so much more is being thrown at you to compensate for what’s missing: the classroom dynamic. 

If Hofstra decides to put the Fall 2020 semester online, I would rather wait to attend school normally than continue to attend through my laptop. I’m already sad about how quickly my freshman year has gone by and how it was ripped from me. This is not the college experience any of us signed up for. 

We didn’t have a choice this semester, but we do for the fall. I would love nothing more than to go back to school. I miss walking to class and having lunch dates at Einstein Bagels with my friends. I miss my home away from home. If I have to wait until January to get campus life back, I’m not sure I’ll survive.

Nathan Odige is a freshman public relations major from Massapequa, NY.