Your college experience lasts around four years. After that, real life begins. For college students in 2020, the COVID-19 Pandemic took away some of that already minimal time. In order to take advantage of the little time they had, many USC students returned to campus despite school remaining online. USC Annenberg Radio’s Hannah Geller explains.
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Apartment buildings and houses surrounding the USC campus are currently full of USC students studying online. Sophomore Journalism major Carlo Jimenez moved into The Lorenzo, an off-campus apartment building, this spring semester
I was getting kind of depressed at home because it sucks being alone. And I missed my friends. And also I work in the athletic department and a lot of sports were coming back, and so I needed to get back to work and I decided to come back to campus.
Just a few minutes away, junior film production major Trudy Buck moved into New Mansion, another off-campus apartment building, in the fall. She says...
I think coming back to campus, whether we’re in school or online, just is the closest thing to a normal college experience. So I think even just like living near campus and being with friends safely made everything feel a little bit more normal. And I feel like when I was home, I was treated like I was a freshman in high school again, and I had to leave that environment ASAP.
Despite being back in a place by school, their lives are more remote than before beyond the classroom.
Now it’s a lot more isolated. Your circle is a lot smaller, and you really have to make an effort to try to meet people.
Buck noticed a difference in her mental health since moving online.
I definitely was in a better mental state with how much I was walking to and from campus, that really helped. You know, when you’re always moving and get going to class, it’s easier then to sit down and do your work, whereas now we’re sitting down all day.
Buck found it frustrating to adapt from a hands-on program to an online format. As a film production major, during her junior year, Buck was supposed to work hands on with USC actors.
You’ve been waiting for two years to use these these actors at your disposal to come and direct them and teach them, and we really didn’t get to do any of that, which that was tough, too, for people who want to become directors. It was almost just like a halt and like the learning process.
Many priorities have changed since campus closed. Some students now find themselves wishing for the little things that they used to take for granted.
I remember the day everything got shut down, I told my friends the last thing I want to do is go to class. And that was the last day with the class. And now all I want to do is go to class.”
Just like Jimenez, Buck is hoping for a return to normalcy next year.
I’m excited to learn in person, learn cinematography in person and not have my professors holding Barbies up on Zoome with little lights, which it was a great way to teach cinematography. But I’m excited to be on a real soundstage and feel like I’m getting my education back for film.
But even though they’re hopeful, some students are still skeptical about campus reopening.
I feel like I don’t believe anything at this point.
USC’s Chief Health Officer, Sarah Van Orman discussed the process of reopening campus in her April 1st briefing.
I think people can see, you know, we’re slowly starting to reopen things here on campus activities are starting to ramp up, and as we’ve talked about before, you know, the state has to move and then the county, and then we as a university take those changes and think about how do we implement them.
Jimenez and Buck are taking their unconventional college experience and looking forward.
I’m actually this time off has definitely given me a greater appreciation for SCA in general because it’s made me really excited and grateful to go back.
I just can’t wait to, like, meet new people, sit down to sit next to somebody and and yeah have that USC experience that I envisioned when I got into the school.
The possibility of schools opening in the fall can provide college students across the country with hope for the chance of a normal college experience. Hopefully, students can start saying goodbye to zoom calls and hello to their peers sitting next to them in class. For Annenberg Media, I’m Hannah Geller.