Emma - West Chester University of Pennsylvania

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I go to Westchester University in Pennsylvania, and I study entrepreneurship, Spanish and media and culture. When the Corona virus became a serious threat, I was studying in Barcelona. Then all of a sudden, without even 24 hours notice, we had to pack up everything we had and try to get a flight home. We had gotten a flight and I was home within 12 hours. It was a huge shock to my system, being home after being abroad and experiencing all these amazing cultures. It was really a let down, and that was hard to deal with for a while. After taking classes online and trying to get back into normal everyday things, it's gotten a lot better. That definitely was a very hard part of my semester. A typical day in virtual college is, um, some classes are scheduled at certain times, and then other times it's just kind of completely is assignments by the end of the week. So it really depends on what class you're taking and how your professor chooses to adopt their class toe. Staying on top of classes has actually been kind of hard. You lose motivation, and it's hard to stay focused if you're not engaging in a class or have your teacher kind of explaining things to you. I was taking summer classes, and I got a week behind because I worked 40 hours a week, and so I would go back to my apartment and try to finish my homework, and I fell behind. I know a lot of other people that took that class that also struggled to, um, maintain a healthy work life balance. Some of the pros toe taking classes online is you do it at your own pace. You control when you do it, how much you do at a time you're not. You don't have as many tight time restraints, but then again, you are missing out on that social aspect that college really brings out. It's ah, it's a time for engagement and, um, creating new relationships and engaging with your peers, which is unfortunate that we have to miss out on that. I'm optimistic that things will get back to normal eventually, and, uh, you'll be able to enjoy your college experience. So mental health during this time is really challenging for a lot of people. Um, I actually took it upon myself to start a group called Women Supporting Women and I Post zoom matings and once a week and we just talk about how we're doing, because it's really hard to reach out to other people when you're going through something. So I allocated this time for girls all over the world. I have girls in Morocco, I have girls all over the United States, and I have some girls in China and Australia that kind of joined in. It's an incredible community, and we're just here to help each other because mental health is so so important, especially when you don't have your support system around you to talk Teoh and to interact with. So if you're struggling with mental health, call someone reach out to someone. Everyone is dealing with something, and there are numerous people out there that are willing to help you. They're trying to go back to classes in the fall, but they also offer the classes online in case people are uncomfortable that air going in case people are uncomfortable being classrooms. So I think there's a couple options if you're getting ready to go into college, if you're thinking about applying or not applying personally, I took a gap year after I graduated high school. I did service work in Guatemala and had a great year, earned some money after that. So this could be the perfect opportunity for you to do something out. Something that builds you up as a person builds your character while the world tries to get back on its feet. You can defer a year, or you could just go into it and do it virtually. There's gonna be those precautions that need to be taken. I think it's just a good opportunity for you to see what you need as a person and see what you want your college experience toe look like. If you're willing to put in the work of online classes or compromise with wearing a mask to class and staying safe and healthy, then go to college is a great experience virtually in person. Either way, you're gonna learn so much that will just open your eyes to the world.