The end of this quarter has been one of unprecedented history. As the news of the coronavirus becoming a pandemic came out, many schools closed (including UCI) to prevent matters from getting worse. Although I won’t be writing on the extent of the situations nationwide and internationally, I can at least comment on my own experience on campus.
Since March 10 the UCI community faced the news that winter quarter finals and the entirety of spring quarter instruction will be done remotely. The days following that decision consisted of the mixed reactions of almost all the UCI community. The staff, for example, had to consider the administration of online finals. Given the stress of the uncertainty about plans for next quarter my professors in particular decided to make finals optional or cancel them entirely. I am grateful that amid the stress of dealing with their own off-campus concerns that my professors made the best decisions for their students, as this was a stressful time and a lot of students communicated the concern of not being able to perform to the best of their ability on finals.
While other students took their finals or waited to see they were cancelled or optional, it dawned on me and my hall that our time spent in the dorms would be coming to an end. For students like me who were living in the dorms we questioned whether we would be staying for spring quarter – given that spring quarter instruction would be done online some students may not need to continue to stay on campus and pay for housing. Of course students were fortunately given the option to continue to dorm and so some of my hall mates are as of now staying, but it was saddening and abrupt realization that life on campus this school year was basically done.
As I realized that on-campus life for spring quarter would not be taking place it made me sad to think about the potential events for next quarter and what could have been. As a student involved in the performing arts it was concerning too how the arts community would be affected as art is typically done tangibly and in person (the faculty of the school of arts is now fortunately making a plan for online learning next quarter). However I realize that matters are worse for other students given situations of unemployment, family concerns, and even the question of whether commencement is taking place; beyond this campus the virus is affecting individuals even more greatly as well. Given this I want to recognize that my situation is one that is more privileged and fortunate than others, and that I am not seeking pity- just documenting my experiences.
Looking back on what has been a crazy week, though, I am glad that after I made the decision to move out of my dorm and learn from my home, me and my hall graciously spent our last days in the hall making unforgettable memories so that saying goodbye for the year was easier. I have to also thank the staff at UCI because during this unprecedented situation, they made and are still making well thought out decisions for the students and our education next quarter.
So yes, this was and is still a stressful time but moving forward I encourage everyone to be patient with each other. As a community at UCI we are each paving our own path and each individual has and will continue to make important decisions- everyone should thus support each other as these decisions are made. I have hope that as we all practice the right precautions (social distancing, washing hands) that circumstances will get better. For now as we spend more time to ourselves let us take some time for self-reflection. Social distancing is a great time to get creative, think about what impactful things you’re going to down after things get better, and keep in touch with others through our many means of social media. This is quite the unexpected end to this quarter and start to next quarter, but I am hopeful for the future and when students get to return to UCI in the fall.