SJU Junior Discusses Shift to In-Person Classes

Saint Joseph’s Sociology major – class of 2021 shares her experience of the sudden change to in-person classes from being online for a year and how stressful it all has been. She highlights how the attendance policy is unfair with how we can’t go on Zoom at our convenience if we’re sick since we’re still in a pandemic. She also expresses the need for empathy and self-care during these tough 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:

I think coming back to in-person this semester was something that I was really looking forward to and I was also really looking forward to being out on my own and being independent as the time went on I realized that like there was a lot it was very hard to like kind of integrate into that. It’s just such a sudden change from online and then having everything be in person but I think like while it was in the forefront while it was beginning this semester I was really looking forward to it and i’m still really happy that we have a lot of in-person activities and classes but it’s just very, it’s, I feel like very stressed out not being able to go online is sometimes challenging.

I think just being online while it definitely is not the same as in person there have been people who have had illnesses and have had different kinds of life experiences that have come up that have made it really hard for them to go to class and I don’t think it’s fair that for people to have to miss all this class and then not just not be excused for it or just not being able to have the experience of just hopping on online.

I wish it was like a little bit more of a gradual change from online to in person because there are definitely some aspects of this time that we’re living in where online could have been could be like maybe more beneficial but it’s just really hard to to kind of wrap my mind around the fact that we’re still living in a pandemic and it’s really important that we’re treating each other with kindness and also just like practicing good healthy habits for ourselves self-care is super important.