SJU Junior Discusses her Transition Back

A Saint Joseph’s University Junior discusses her transition back to Hawk Hill and how this time and situation has affected her. She also talks about her views on how the University as a whole has been dealing or handling the COVID situation and some issues within it. As well as some insight into the mind of the average student during these strange times.

More videos like this one can be found at http://transition.starttalkingsju.com. You can also see our prior campaigns: Living in Fear, Striving for Hope, Attacked, Belonging, and Mental Health.

This video was co-created with the person depicted who reviewed and signed a consent form granting permission to share this story online. 

If you are experiencing any personal or social effects due to COVID and/or a return to campus life, the university has resources that can help, including:

• The Office of Student Outreach and Support
• the SJU COVID website; 
• HawkHub, if you are experiencing food insecurity;
• The Bias Activity Review Group, which connects to Public Safety; 
• Counseling and Psychological Support (CAPS; 610-660-1090)
• TitleIX titleIX@sju.edu
• REPP (*confidential support) 610-733-9650 (24 hr. Peer Helpline)
• SJU Public Safety 610-660-1111.

A complete transcript of the video reads as follows:

“So I think I like to focus on like the actual transition now, like back to campus instead of like just last year, transitioning back this year has been totally different for me because like I will once again, like now, we’re forced back to be fully in person.

But we have kids sitting on top of each other in classrooms like kids are getting sinus infections and it’s nasty and like, you don’t want to sit next to somebody that’s sick. But we’re being required to go to class because now like, we’re not doing Zoom links.

So even as somebody that still has a weakened immune system, I don’t care if it’s not COVID. I still don’t want your illness like I don’t want to get sick when it comes to the school. I think that there’s a lot of things like the school has done well, like there are a lot of things that like

St Joseph’s, done well and I can like give them credit for that. At the same time, there’s a lot of things that I just totally think they completely missed the mark on. Like, I don’t understand how all of the sudden like, we have a new variant out right now and the school still has everybody just sitting on

top of each other. That’s gross. Like, that’s disgusting and like. And they also they say, like every student should be vaccinated, and that’s just not the case. So it’s like they’re not holding themselves to their word, I guess, if that makes sense.

I also think that like certain professors, obviously professors are struggling and we all know this like, it’s obviously been tough for anybody going through the pandemic. Everybody’s lives have changed. But I think it’s tough for the professors because they don’t realize that like we’re also struggling.

And so I know, like the last time you and I talked, I said, like, if you have a kid that isn’t coming to your class and like you, notice that like their their grades are slipping or like they just don’t seem themselves like just check in just like see how your students are doing because like, there’s a

lot of kids that are struggling a lot right now and like, luckily, I got it, I got myself kind of like, figured out. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have bad days. Still, that doesn’t mean I don’t have bad weeks or anything like both of my dogs died in the beginning of the semester, and my professor

expected me in class and I looked and I was only going to miss one class, one night class. And it was just like, I don’t know, and you didn’t even count it as like an absent, like an excused absence or anything.

I think that on top of all the other stress, you should just be a little bit more lenient towards your students to the average student. Like, right now, just be kind, be patient and like, guys, everybody’s gotten there right now.

Like, I have not talked to anybody that feels like they have it all figured out. I don’t think any of us do. If you look at most of our college experiences, it’s been nothing but COVID. So I don’t I think we’re all kind of losing it.

I don’t like and I don’t think that’s a central problem. I think that’s a problem across the whole country. I just we’re just in tough times. So there’s that. And then I also think that like if you are a professor, check in on us.

Like I said, we need you to, we want you to. We a lot of students, I’m sure, would like to make more connections with their professors. We picked a small school for a reason. For some people like me, like I picked a small school because I wanted to actually, like, have a relationship with my professors, which thankfully

like I’ve really been able to do. But at the same time, just like a simple like, Hey, are you OK? I noticed you haven’t been in class the last couple of days. That could go a long way because then I would feel instead of me like emailing you and burdening you with everything that I have going on

. I could send you back an email and say, Hey, actually, I’m not OK, this is what’s going on. Thanks for reaching out. Or like, if you have a student that’s really not doing well, maybe they’re going to say something that you realize, OK, let me get the student caps, or let me help out the student in this

way. So I had one professor my freshman year, and when COVID first hit, he would send out a like Google Form to us and we would have to rank how we were feeling on a scale of one to ten.

And if you like, had a and if you like, answered some of the questions like low, he was going to check like check in on you and he would. I remember he asked, like, Are you scared right now?

I still want to chat. How scared are you? And this is your first hit, so everybody’s freaking out. And I sure enough, I got an email and he was telling me all this stuff like, you like telling me that like not to not freak out, but he just, I’m here for you and like, we’re going to all

get through this together. It’s going to be tough times, but like just having that other adult or that other person that, like, you know, has your back is really important to me. So I would say that to them, but they like to the students like, you know yourself, well enough to know, like if you need help.

Like, I think that I pushed off getting help for a really long time because I was just convincing myself and my brain that I was fine when, like, I’m literally sitting on my bedroom floor like bawling my eyes out and like not doing well.

So I think if you feel like you need help or you feel like something’s not right with you or not, not not right with you. Like that sounds horrible, but like if you just feel like there is something like if you feel like you’re going through it and you could use a little extra help, please go reach

out. Please go talk to somebody in class. Because like I know, like suicide has affected my life in many, many ways. Like, I’ve lost a lot of family members to suicide and loved ones and friends and different things and like, just reach out because there are going to be people that care.

I just think that Saint Joe’s needs to do a better job of asking us if we’re OK and we need to be doing a better job of going to Saint Joe’s and saying, we’re not OK. I think like, we just got to meet more in the middle because I think we just keep missing the mark over.

I’ll just be more patient and be more understanding because I feel like, well, I’ve had a lot of great professors as in Joe’s, and a lot of them really have been understanding and patient during this process. I can’t say that every single professor has been that way, and I think that those certain classes where I’m feeling that

the most are the classes that stress me out the most because I’m like, I have to constantly be on my A-game and I can’t slip up. And if I do like, there is no return like so stressful, it’s super stressful.

Yeah. So with my minor being industrial organizational psychology, I say, please be organized like I have definitely really gotten in the habit of like writing down all my assignments. And I have like an entire Excel spreadsheet in my laptop of everything that’s do.

It’s color coordinated. It’s so over the top. I’m not that type of person, never have been that type of student, but we’re all in this weird like transitional phase where I feel like I haven’t adjusted to anything. So if I can at least like know what I have to do for homework, that’s going to make my day

a little bit easier. I’d also say, like one thing that really helped me when I was like at my lowest of lows with the depression, and everything was definitely just like eating healthier, working out, hanging out with friends.

Like even if you don’t feel comfortable going to a party, I still think go for an outdoor walk with a friend or like even just meet up with somebody and socially distance. Like if that’s how it’s like you’re concerned about COVID.

In that sense, you still need to interact with people in some capacity because I didn’t and I was losing my mind. And I think that that ultimately is what really set me downhill.”