As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, Seattle Central College has already made the call that Summer quarter 2020 classes will be online. Many of the students are beginning to change their Summer plans. In a recent interview, when asked about his Summer plans, Running Start student Christoph Heller commented, “I had a plan to find a job, but now I don’t know what we’re going to do. Might as well focus on school.”
Smile: “What do you miss about life before the pandemic?”
Christoph: “I mostly miss seeing friends, family, and just being in social environments in general. Being quarantined is definitely a struggle since I can’t hang out with friends, can’t have study groups, and just in general life is a bit more overwhelming.”
Smile: “What are your worries for Summer 2020?”
Christoph: “I’m a little bummed about the whole quarantine situation since I was hoping to get a job and make some money. That’s definitely the major downside to summer quarter for me, but on top of that, I won’t be able to interact with people nearly as much which will definitely affect my school experience. Since I’m missing out on things like study groups, labs, and just hanging out with friends in general.”
Smile: “How do you think this summer might be different from the past summers?”
Christoph: “This Summer will definitely be different than my past few summers.. When I was in high school I would usually take the Summer off and relax, but since I’m doing Running Start at SCC now I feel motivated to take some Summer classes, but at the same time, they’re gonna be online which kind of sucks.”
“Summer is what kids like us were hoping for the entire year, Summer is where the weather is nice and we get to explore new things, meet new people. But due to the outbreak, we can’t really interact with people. More or less I’m excited actually, I tend to not do school during Summer but I guess this is my chance to try something different. Even though there are many challenges since all the courses are online, I can take advantage of this Summer to do something productive. However, I plan to take a few classes in the Summer but I’m still worried about the lack of social contact.”
In another interview with Diego Falcon, Social Media Manager at SCC, he commented, “Last year Summer quarter kinda wasn’t the best for me because the college was an entire ghost town, and all the clubs were closed. The only reason I like to go to campus is that I can interact with people, but there’s almost no one on campus in Summer. I am happier to take it online.”
Although the advantage of taking Summer classes is that students can benefit from working on their accelerated degree, Summer is also the time where many find job opportunities, accept internships to find new career paths, or take a break to visit families, depending on each case. However, since the pandemic, many students have decided to change their plans and use the time to work on their academics. All that is hoped now is that we can resume in-person instruction in the Fall, and that the school systems can go back to normal.
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