Students react to the impact of COVID-19 on their USD experience

USD students discuss how their lives have changed and will continue to change because of COVID-19

Jennifer Mossuto / Copy Editor / The USD Vista

It has officially been 12 days since the USD community received the first email from President Harris detailing the mandatory remote teaching due to the COVID-19 virus. The email,  which also briefly stated that all students living in the residence halls must relocate from campus no later than March 22, sparked anxiety in students not just living on campus, but from all over. 

Junior Nat Yee lived in the Pacific Ridge Apartments, located right across the street from USD’s campus, and moved home to O’ahu, Hawai’i only three days after the email was sent. 

“I just got done surfing, and I’m driving behind the World Champion from two years ago — pretty sick,” Yee said when he answered his phone for an interview. But it has not been all fun and games since Yee first heard the news. 

“I got the email from President Harris and then right after that I booked a storage unit,” Yee said. “It was pretty stressful, it was not fun at all. I flew home the next day and it was pretty expensive because I had to book my flight relatively quickly. But since I’ve been home, it’s been pretty awesome. Been surfing a lot, no school has been great, and I’m loving Spring Break 2.0., but it really is interrupting my math and learning so I’m kind of disappointed with that.”

Yee was planning to study abroad in Budapest this fall to participate in a math program, but now he has concerns that his plans will likely have to change. 

“I’m kind of bummed because my parents are wanting me to quarantine from all my friends and stuff and also not being at USD for my last semester at all made me decide I might not go abroad,” Yee said. “It would just kind of suck to not be able to see my friends for the last time. So I’m not going to go abroad anymore, probably, and I’m not even sure if I’d be able to go. But I’m really glad that everybody at USD is relatively okay.”

Junior Lauren Pohs planned to stay in San Diego and finish out the semester here doing online classes, but the anxiety of her parents has since changed her plan to stay. 

“I’m from Colorado, and I knew I could drive home, but I didn’t really see a foreseen threat,” Pohs said. “But then I’m talking to my parents about this week that we have off, and they told me they thought I should come home because things were getting pretty bad.”

Pohs is planning to graduate a semester early in the Fall of 2020, however, not being able to participate in her research classes worried her about her future. 

“So then, I’m thinking, ‘What is going to happen with my classes?’ If I go home, then my research credit becomes incomplete, and so that kind of messes up my schedule to graduate in the fall,” Pohs said. “We got everything figured out and my parents told me now I should come home. I did make the decision to go home and ease my parents’ anxiety.”

Pohs expressed that the one word that could describe how she felt all week was ‘anxious.’

“Because so many things were coming at me, and my whole routine that I have started this semester is going to be all out of whack, and I rely on structure and routine to keep me on track for what I want to do, so I was really anxious and stressed about how I’m going to react to these online classes,” Pohs said. “I’m scared I’m not going to be motivated and that’s going to be a difficult change.”

Pohs works in the Dean’s office and had a first-hand look at the distress students and parents were feeling. Although she is extremely sad to leave, she believes USD made the right decision to go online and relocate students in the dorms. 

“Everybody has different health issues and with the information we have, it affects everybody completely differently and we don’t have a vaccine,” Pohs said. “I think this is for the best considering everybody congregates at schools and also at parties so I think the dorms being closed down was also justified for the fact that nobody is going to stay in their dorm room and people would probably take advantage of the situation.”

With shelter-in-place taking effect, Senior Lauren Rivers decided to quickly road-trip home to Portland, Oregon for a few weeks. 

“It’s hard now, I’ve gone through so many different emotions,” Rivers said. “With administration, at first I was kind of frustrated that they kept talking about it without really making a decision, and that the decision was a little aggressive because we’re a later semester-term school, but at the same time, now I really understand, and looking at the rest of the world and how serious it’s gotten, I feel like it was probably the best decision as much as it sucks.”

Rivers had a particularly unique take on the situation since this was her short-lived last semester at USD. 

“I think, from a senior standpoint, it was hard getting the email on a Thursday because we had everything ripped away at once,” Rivers said. “I got it in my last class that I would ever sit in and so it was just kind of frustrating not knowing that we were going to have to go and do our favorite last things on campus. And that’s not on administration, that’s just on the situation in general.”

Although Rivers is disappointed about the time that was lost, she hopes to think positively about the future. 

“It’s such a bummer that it happened and it’s no one’s fault,” Rivers said. “I’m excited to be able to have some more time with roommates and with family and spending more quality time that way but it’s just a bummer that there’s probably a lot of people that I’m never going to get to see again and a lot of stuff that I won’t get to do.”

San Diego State University recently announced that they will be holding a virtual graduation celebration for their students on May 16, and have postponed all in-person commencement ceremonies until December 17-20, 2020. After discussing the idea that USD might follow suit, Rivers said that she likely would not be returning for an in-person ceremony next semester (if USD chose to hold one). 

“The reality of me coming back for that is very, very low, especially if I have a job elsewhere, that’s the issue,” Rivers said. “But it’s nice that they’re being thoughtful and trying to do something.” 

It doesn’t matter what year someone is or where they live — everyone during this time has lost something, given up something, or will eventually have to. Whether that is having to leave their friends, moving home, social distancing, or losing their graduation ceremony, students have lost a lot and will be working hard to return back to a routine that they know and love. For any updates on COVID-19, go to https://www.sandiego.edu/coronavirus/.