Four years ago this month, the world was thrown into the largest pandemic in a century. Enough time has now passed most current students were never able to experience UT Martin before COVID-19 fundamentally changed the college experience. Many students were even forced to adjust to new pandemic guidelines while also trying to adjust to college, leaving lasting impacts on their college experience long after the restrictions were lifted and the masks came off. The Pacer staff members would like to take the opportunity to share their experiences during this tumultuous time, hopefully offering new perspectives as we continue to adapt in this post-pandemic world.
Payton Frimel / Co-Viewpoints Editor
As a high school graduate of 2020, my life definitely took an unexpected turn, as did everyone else’s. I recall the last day I attended high school. There was talk of a two week break and I remember being so excited and also terrified of how this would shape my future, as the next few months were going to be a big adjustment in and of itself.
The last day of school in March also happened to follow a band concert that same night. That concert was my last memory of high school band. There was also a planned marching band trip to Disney Springs to perform that was canceled three days prior.
Fast forward a few months and college came around. I was met with Zoom classes, Zoom clarinet lessons and Live at the Tent wind ensemble concerts. On move-in day, I met my first college friend, my roommate and, coincidentally, coauthor of this very story.
Adjusting to college under such abnormal circumstances made it simultaneously extremely difficult to socialize and, in a way, easier. Obviously, with the restrictions such as masks and social distancing, it was hard to really get to know my peers. However, the sense of community that was built due to the shared hardship of the unknown gave me a sense of security.
Sophia Albers / Editorial Assistant
When I came to UT Martin and Covid was happening, I had no idea what the future was going to be like. I was worried at first. Very worried. I had thrown myself at people to make new friends and it worked! But I wasn’t sure about the longevity of these friendships or if I really wanted to be friends with them in the first place. It ended up being alright in the end, and I’m happy with the friends I have now, but it didn’t come easy. College during these lonely, desperate times taught me a lot about patience, boundaries, time management and social batteries. Covid specifically taught me about listening to my inner voice. When you’re trapped in your shared dorm all day for classes, a lack of outside events and being amidst social lockdown, you spend a lot of time with yourself. I know a lot of people that struggled deeply with isolation. I’m glad that we’re on the other side of it now, but I’m grateful to have learned so much.
But to be clear, no, I wouldn’t love to go back to unusable Cooper roads and loud roof construction at 6 a.m., stale Zoom meetings, too many canceled trips, recitals and performances. I had no senior prom, no senior band banquet, no spring concert, no homecoming, no field day and a masked/limited graduation, but what I regret I missed most are the nights I should’ve been having fun times with my bandmates every week at each others’ houses.
Makayla Pittard / Editorial Assistant
When the Covid shutdown happened four years ago, I was completing my last semester of high school. The beginning of March meant that the most exciting part of being a senior was finally about to happen—prom, senior nights, graduation and a peek into freedom. However, getting the news that all these plans were going to be canceled due to a serious virus created a lot of sudden uncertainty and emotions.
I wasn’t in this alone though. All seniors within my school felt the same frustration, that we had to do something about it. Seniors decided to put together a video consisting of students from all schools in the county telling personal and intimate stories and asking the superintendent to compromise with students to allow us to have graduation—even if it is within Covid restriction limits. One thing I can say about the graduating class of 2020 is that we are diligent and problem solvers. Eventually, we received the news that we would be able to have a graduation outside with a limited number of guests.
Although this journey was hectic and an emotional roller-coaster, I am very proud to be a Covid-year graduate. And now, all of us Covid-year graduates and students are about to experience yet another graduation that marks our hard work and perseverance, but this time with a little more normalcy.
Kate Pilcher / News Editor
When the shutdown happened, I was sitting in my junior year English class. From that moment on, until I graduated high school in spring of 2021, I was in a daze. I actually ended up graduating with a mask on. My mother is a nurse at a local hospital and my sister was very high risk, so it was a very stressful time for the whole family. I am known for not being able to sit still, and I felt weird being stuck in my house for months on end, but I did learn the importance of taking a minute to breathe. However, I can hardly remember anything that happened, especially in 2020.
Bethany Collins / Editorial Assistant
I remember the day the world shut down very clearly. I was sitting in my chemistry class and joking with my friends when we got an announcement that this would be our last day for a few weeks because of COVID. It was my junior year and the next day we would have had to take our ACT, so I was excited to hear this. The two weeks turned into two more weeks, then a month, then school was canceled for the rest of the year. We started back in Aug. of 2020 with masks, a temperature check in and social distancing. We had very little events for my senior year. We had ticketing for our graduation, and very few people could go. It was weird. I always thought when I graduated high school it would be like when all of my other family members graduated, a packed little section with the people you love cheering for you. Instead it was five people, and no cheering because it was so quiet.
Marques Rice / Features Editor
I was very unaware of how fast COVID-19 had been spreading within the U.S. I was in high school, looking forward to spring break, which was quickly approaching, but the COVID cases started getting closer to Memphis, TN. One day while I was sitting in my U.S. History class, we got an email saying that we would be getting an extra week of school off because of the cases that had begun to pop up in the local area. This break would then expand to a month, leading to the whole school year being canceled.
My high school would try to do outreach packets to keep student morale up and make sure everyone was staying sharp mentally, but without the social aspect of being in a physical high school, many students would fall behind. I would not step back into a physical high school until my junior year, after only having been an in-person student for all of a semester. This would affect many parts of my life, from the friends I made to the actual way I was involved in school itself.
Aubrey Abbott / Videographer
At the time Covid happened, I was only a freshman in high school. Our high school band had just finished our 2019 field show and Christmas concert, and we had just started transitioning to working on our spring concert. I remember sitting in the office with my band director and other members of our leadership team. We were some of the first people to find out that school would be shutting down.
Everything was moved virtually, but (at the time) we lived in a house without internet. We also had little service, and our phones and TV barely worked. Classes were thrown on to Zoom, and my family quickly realized that my brother and I could not attend the online meetings. Thankfully, we were able to load the virtual classrooms and keep up with lectures and assignments, but we could not join online class meetings. My brother and I pretty much got to give up school for an entire year.
Although Covid brought difficult times to many, I greatly enjoyed my time out of school. My friends and I from school made lots of plans. We enjoyed the lake a lot that summer and had many picnics! I also learned to enjoy time to myself. I explored my hobbies and even created some new ones. I explored my love for painting. I painted many canvases, pots, bowls, and honestly anything I could find in the house! I enjoyed coloring a lot. I started a page on an old social media platform called Dubsmash, which has since been shut down, and I accumulated 5k followers. My account was filled with so much art, positivity, and love. I made many friends on the internet, many of which I still talk to today! I am very grateful for all the time I got to spend creating art and I often wish for more time to myself like I had then.
Trey Kelly / Editorial Assistant
At the end of 2019, my parents got divorced, and I was still trying to adjust to living in a completely different house while my mom tried to get her financial situation straight. Christmas that year was awkward, being split between two homes and all, but I got through and had hopes for my last semester of high school. The school board had planned something big and grand that would last into the wee hours of the morning. I was excited and I was looking forward to walking the stage in May. I still did, but it was only after shutdown after shutdown, and soon enough, the school year was over.
That summer was weird too. I got my first job and was tired when I got off at 6 p.m. and had to go in at 7:30 a.m. the next morning. I was tired, I was mentally all over the place… and I hadn’t even gone to college yet.
When I got here, I had to deal with a lousy roommate, suitemates who always reeked of weed, and I was stuck in my room on Zoom calls on a regular basis. There was barely any escape, and the worst was when I couldn’t go home one weekend because my roommate went to a COVID party and got sick. I honestly still wonder how I survived all of that, because it did inevitably get better. I was miserable, I was annoyed, and I was just trying to deal with everything all at once. I don’t miss it, and I’m scared for whatever comes next.
