By Leroy Aleman II
Being a college student with a full workload, a job, and extracurricular is already hard enough as it is, and this pandemic surprisingly created both positive and negative results. As we get near the end of the year, and almost a quarter of a year into the pandemic, reflecting on what college has been like during COVID-19 can sometimes be stressful, especially when thinking about all of the missed opportunities that I could have achieved or taken but were stripped due to the virus. Other reflection times bring good memories and experiences that I never thought I would make, both professionally and academically, as well as my personal life.
Life, as we know it, changed, and for some it was such a change that there is most likely a 0% chance of returning to what they called normal before the pandemic. I could not imagine where I would be if I were not in college at this very moment, because not only has college taught me many life lessons, the combination of both college and COVID-19 has furthered those teachings. Of course COVID-19 will impact many people in either good or bad ways, but I have carved many paths towards progress since the semester began in August.
As an academic scholar, COVID-19 has opened up a vast amount of time to study and strive for higher grades, as well as becoming more involved in extracurricular, all due to the online format of classes. These forms of classes have their benefits and disadvantages for specific reasons, but gazing at the positive side of this format it has helped me quite a bit in regards to availability and comfortability. Although technology seems to fail us at some points, the online school has made an impact on my technology skills, teaching me things that I thought I would never learn. Of course when looking at the downsides of being a college student during COVID-19, we can list a plethora of activities that we are missing. One that really impacts me is marching band, which was unable to happen for obvious reasons. From large social gatherings at football games to small group meetings for Bible study, it was very difficult to see all of the events that could not be held, at least in their full capacity.
Even though I was unable to attend many of these things due to COVID-19, I am ever so grateful for all of the opportunities that have been given to me and are still being given. Classes are still in-person, many facilities remain open with restrictions, meetings are still held in person with those same restrictions, and so much more. COVID posed a threat to the lives of many people, and for me, I did my best to take it head on while taking all of the proper precautions, to make the best of what was offered and to still live life as a college student in the middle of a pandemic.
Leroy Aleman II is a sophomore at West Texas A&M University with a Political Science Major and Music Minor. He is involved in Student Government, two fraternities, and is also a part of the Attebury Honors Program.