The Spring semester of 2022 has resumed at Long Beach City College and students and staff have mixed feelings about returning back to campus to take their classes after spending the last couple of years taking courses online.
Ever since the COVID-19 outbreak forced schools to shut down in March of 2020, teachers and students have been forced to adapt to a new way of providing and receiving an education.
However, now that society has adjusted and learned to live safely amidst a pandemic, schools have begun to allow students to return back to campus. In spite of this, students and staff still feel wary about coming back to school.
“School feels a lot different. Before, students would gather in groups and talk to each other. Now that school has restarted, everyone is scared to be around anyone, and there’s not as much interaction as before,” Crisi Hernandez, a school staff member said.
“I believe that kids prefer to stay home because there is the fear that they may get sick. Also, some may face issues such as anxiety,” Hernandez added.
Donavan Madison, another staff member went on to add what he has observed.
“Students are less engaged while being more distant from one another. They refuse to socialize and go straight to class then straight home. School used to be packed with people and full of activities before COVID-19,” Madison said.
It is no surprise that interaction amongst students has decreased. Social distancing and mask mandates are still in effect, and nobody wants to risk the chance of getting sick.
Although classes have resumed on campus, some courses offer students the choice to take their classes online. Because of this, the majority of the online classes are full and have a long waitlist, while most in-person classes still have availability.
Amy Tripolites, a creative writing major and military veteran, feels like the reason students are hesitant to return to school is because of “the uncertainty of what’s going on, it feels like something is changing everyday.”
After spending significant time taking classes online, students have been able to notice the pros and cons between physically coming to school and taking classes versus sitting in front of a computer listening to lectures.
When asked about which teaching style she prefers, student Leann Barcelona says, “I definitely think taking classes is way easier in person because I can ask the professor questions after class and I can feel the connection with my classmates and make friends a lot easier. Most of the classes that I took online were asynchronous and those classes were pretty hard. Overall, I prefer in-person classes.”
Students who have used the action of coming to campus as an incentive to be social are enduring a different experience.
Mohammed Alfayez, a student with hearing loss shares how difficult it is to be on campus wearing a mask and not being able to communicate clearly with those who do not know sign language.
“I like to be here at school for good advice, to hang out, meet new friends, and have clubs to attend because everyone deals with their own mental health and may feel lonely. I’m here alone, trying to make new friends but I am unable to read lips and I can’t always have an ASL interpreter. This is really hard for me. I just miss 2019 and before,” Alfayez said.
Although there is joy in reuniting with classmates, friends, and staff, students like Alfayez now find that it has become difficult to be social on campus due to the mask mandate and the inability to communicate through lip-reading.
From the limited resources to social distancing, returning to campus does not feel like how it once did before the COVID-19 pandemic.