Virginia Voices: Coronavirus clouds college future for Henrico freshman

Eliana Nachman, 18, is a recent graduate of Hermitage High School in Henrico, and has been accepted to Mary Washington University this fall, where classes started Aug. 24.

The university initially planned a hybrid of online and in-person instruction to minimize the risk of spreading the coronavirus. But as infections grew, the university announced on Aug. 13 that classes would be entirely online until at least mid-September.

The pandemic has upended a year full of promise for Nachman and her friends: “I was hoping it would kind of be all wrapped up by August. I guess I was just being naive.”

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As told to Julia Raimondi, Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism:

My senior year ended on Friday, March 13th. That Thursday in my stats class, we had a sub and she announced that we would be going on break for two weeks. So I thought, “Oh two weeks, so maybe after spring break we’d be back.” Obviously that didn’t happen.

Seniors were basically exempt from doing schoolwork online, but they didn’t explicitly say that. We lowkey had the choice to do the work or not. I mainly focused on my AP classes because those exams were in May. So that was pretty much it. I didn’t do much work because it was hard to tell if it was required or if it would even benefit my learning.

I didn’t decide on where I wanted to go to college until around May 30. The deadline was June 1. My decision to go to Mary Washington University was more of a personal thing, but my other college options were more than six hours away. I definitely was considering the distance more than I probably would have if it weren’t for the pandemic.

[Early in the summer] we each got assigned a day for moving on to campus. We had to sign up for a time slot and you can only have two people with you to help limit the amount of people in one space. Mary Washington told us to use less decorations and furniture for dorms, as well as make sure to pack sanitizing equipment.

I understand why they wanted us to do that -- to be as safe as possible. But I kinda haven’t been limiting myself. I want to have as close to a normal experience so I haven’t thought too much about it. But I know that if I have to come home early it will be more of a pain to move everything.

I considered taking a fall semester off and just going to a community college because Mary Washington stated they would allow that. But I ultimately decided to go because I want to experience college and I worked hard in high school to attend a four year university.

My family and I haven’t talked about the possibility of closure yet, but it's definitely in the back of all of our minds. I have it in my head that we probably won’t be able to stay as long as planned. The numbers seem higher than when colleges closed down in March.

Mary Washington told us [initially] some classes might be online or hybrid. They were trying to find spaces where we could have in-person classes but continue to social distance. I’m in the honors college at Mary Washington and I know their building won't be open because it's too small for health recommendations.

I got more assigned to classes than personally signing up for them, but when I got my schedule I ensured that at least half were hybrid or in-person. I didn’t want my classes to be online. It isn't the same quality education. It might be harder for me to learn or ask questions if it's online.

Socialization will be difficult. Orientation was one of those things where there wasn't any way to reach out to people individually and get to know people besides the orientation leader or people in your small group. You signed up for an all-day Zoom orientation experience from the comfort of your own home.

[When I heard this month Mary Washington was switching to remote classes] I was actually at the beach with some of my friends for a last-minute way to hang out before we all went to college. I was in the hot tub relaxing. I went on to Facebook and I saw that a lot of people on the Facebook group were very annoyed. I was confused.

I checked my email and I found out that the move is going to be delayed until September. I was pretty upset. For me, I was basically all ready to go.

I don’t think that the risk of spreading the disease is worth moving on to campus. Community college or online classes would probably have the same educational experience, but it’s the college experience that everyone always talks about that I was anticipating.

It's scary and upsetting because the stereotypical summer and second semester senior year I didn’t get to have, so I was hoping it would kind of be all wrapped up by August. I guess I was just being naive.

It’s also difficult for friendships, because instead of getting that “last summer before college” and spending remaining time together with friends, you have to be careful if you're going to hang out at all. Those opportunities get smaller and smaller with the limited options of what you can do safely.

One thing my friend recently texted me was that she imagined me helping her pack for college and that's one thing we won't get to do. It's the little things. It might be a little cliche, but this pandemic has helped us understand the little things we take for granted because we don’t think about them.

It's about acknowledging the moments we have, like my senior year cut short. I remember in the original two week break thinking, “Man, I’ve never wanted to go to school more.” And that’s not usually a sentence that comes out of my mouth.

I know my experience comes from a place of privilege, that I can still afford to go and that both my parents have jobs that can still be translated to virtual. I’m very grateful that I can still have the opportunity to attend a public university.

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This article from the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism first appeared on https://vcij.org. It is republished here with permission.