I’ve only been a senior for a couple of weeks, but some-times when I walk around on campus, I feel like a freshman all over again. For me, the fall of freshman year was all about meeting new people and finding my place on campus, but once I finally did that, we were sent home. The pandemic halted most of my college experience; I didn’t have the opportunity to meet as many new people, I barely learned anything in my classes, and I couldn’t go anywhere.

We had to leave behind the idea of the “stereotypical college experience” and come to terms with the fact that ours has been anything but typical. Although there were a lot of things that were lost, I also think I was pushed to grow in different ways. I went on walks every day and got to explore the neighborhoods that surrounded our school. Being constricted to Ashwood also pushed me to spend more time with the people in my building and I was able to build stronger relationships with those people.

When junior year rolled around, it was a slow transition back to normal, but I feel like that transition was much needed. Just recently at the senior barbeque, I was looking around and saw so many faces that I have never seen before or haven’t talked to since freshman year, but for some of those people, we picked up right where we left off. Even though I am off campus most of the day for student teaching, I am able to come back at night and be reminded of what it feels like to have a full campus again.

The pandemic is my college experience and I am definitely a different person now than four years ago, but I don’t think I would change the experience I had. It made St. Joe’s my home in ways that it wouldn’t be if I wasn’t challenged to accept change.