Starting this school year feels another chapter in an epic saga that should be titled: The College Experience. It’s a chapter doesn’t feel new. It never seems to end.
Spring 2020 started like any other semester, but as each week passed, there were talks of a virus spreading across the globe. The news was particularly worrying for college students who are just stepping into a world, finding their own independence.
And then, on March 16, it happened. Every student was sent home and all classes went strictly online.
One student who was a freshman at the time and who asked to remain anonymous said, “the seriousness of the quarantine forcing me to be inside makes me so scared for the future. I can’t help but think about the negative impacts that coronavirus and the quarantine have on not only me, but the global community at large.”
The VOICE surveyed 12 students on their experiences with remote learning. Thirty-three percent said online classes are more stressful than learning in person. Fifty percent said they felt just as stressed regardless of style of learning.
Dr. Heather Jennings, a Psychology professor at MCCC, says of the stress, “It makes sense that this pandemic would have a significant impact on one’s mental health since our lives have been significantly altered…The uncertainty to this whole situation is likely to cause stress.”
Sophomore student Daniella Haskins says, “Not being allowed to take care of your own personal business is such a hindrance for people who prefer to get things done sooner rather than later can cause such an irritation for persons with exceptional organizational skills.”
As if the generalized stress wasn’t bad enough, it can be accompanied by or trigger clinical anxiety and depression. Financial and educational concerns, fear future goals, and of course fear of getting sick from covid-19 itself just pile on.
Anxiety and depression, whether formally diagnosed or not, have hit Mercer students just as hard. About 75% of Mercer students say they have faced anxiety or depression during quarantine.
Dr. Jennings says, “Recent research has shown that anxiety and concerns about illness have increased among people across the country, creating a new term called, coronophobia which describes anxiety that relates to COVID-19, contracting the illness, and all the variables associated with living in a COVID-19 pandemic.”
Learning in a college setting used to be fun and enjoyable to most students, and each day felt new and exciting. The energy was more inviting and gave students a reason to get up and start the day.
It can seem like there’s no hope in this story of isolation and trying to learn with mental monsters surrounding every corner. However, after so many months of uncertainty and dread, students at Mercer have been able to fight off the negativity and sorrow.
They have been fighting hard to overcome it all with self care and building support networks.
In the VOICE survey, 50 percent of students said their relationships have been maintained through COVID-19, and 42 percent even said their relationships grew even stronger in these troubling times.
Even the most dreadful, dark thoughts and feelings can’t bring Mercer students down. As stressful and draining this adjustment has been, students have been fighting through everyday like superheroes. A whopping 83 percent of Mercer students surveyed said they have been able to adjust to this new and scary world.
As for the other 17 percent of those who may feel like they’re fighting this battle alone, don’t be afraid. Every student, professor, and faculty member is fighting their own mental monsters as well. Find friends, join a club even if it meets through Zoom, keep up with selfcare.
No matter how dark the world may seem, there’s always a light around the corner, and even the worst chapters have an end.
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For those interested, you can find counseling support at MCCC by clicking here.
