When I arrived on campus in August of 2020, my experience at SHU was not how I envisioned the beginning of my college experience playing out. It was the height of the pandemic. Everyone was required to wear masks everywhere except their own room. Classes had to be socially distanced, meaning everyone had to be six feet apart. Sometimes half the class would be on zoom, because they were quarantined with COVID. This drove a lot of students off campus and back home to become virtual for the remainder of the semester, including my roommate.
Before we even got to November, the amount of COVID cases on campus got so bad that the school was practically shut down. All clubs and organizations had to be fully virtual. All sports seasons were done. Most students, myself included, packed up and went home for the rest of the semester. All classes were now fully online for the remainder of the semester.
I didn’t know what to expect heading into the spring semester of my freshman year. Good news was I got a new roommate, a friend I made during my first semester at SHU. Bad news was basically everything else. No one was allowed to leave their rooms for the most part the first two weeks. Classes were hybrid. They were half in person and half virtual. It was very difficult to deal with.
My sophomore year started out a little better, as masks no longer needed to be worn outside. They still needed to be worn inside, however. Things improved as time went on. I started to meet more people. Clubs and sports were able to be fully in person. By March, SHU decided to remove the mask requirement for the most part.
Junior year was really the first time since about the middle of my senior year of high school that I went into anything not feeling limited in the things that I could do. No mask requirement or social distancing. COVID guidelines were gone. All classes and other campus activities were fully in person. It was a great feeling, but a bit odd in a way. It felt like my college experience was just starting, meanwhile it was already halfway done. Junior year was really the first time that I truly had fun in college. Made a lot more friends. Got even more involved with the Spectrum Newspaper as an assistant editor for the sports section, became the Vice President of the Sports Media club, and started my own sports podcast. I finally felt like a college student.
My senior year at SHU is something I will never forget. I had the incredible opportunity to be the Co-Sports Editor for The Spectrum, something I had been working towards since I took News Writing and Reporting with Professor Kabak my sophomore year and had been a part of the Spectrum board in some fashion ever since. Different classes that I got the opportunity to take in my last two years at SHU have taught me so much about the Sports Communication and Media program that I have been in for four years and will stay in as a graduate student for the next year starting in August. I had the opportunity to work a lot of SHU broadcasts, as well as help with different events such as the “What SHU Doing” podcast and the Esports Showcase. It was a year that I will never forget.
My experience at SHU featured many ups and many downs. It was an incredible ride, that isn’t even over yet as I will be staying at SHU for graduate school. Years ago, I wasn’t sure if anything that I have accomplished over the last four years was evenly remotely possible. Thanks to SHU, it not only became a possibility, it became a reality. I will never forget my time at SHU. I cannot wait to see what is next for me.
