As the fall semester comes to an end, freshmen and transfer students reflect on their first semester at San Jose State with remote learning.
“I was not expecting my first year of college, where people are supposed to make friends, learn life, mess up and try again [to be] like this,” said forensic science freshman Megan Ross. “[We’re] locked in our rooms or still back at home learning on a computer through Google and Zoom.”
Several aspects of campus life and athletics have been entirely shut down or reduced to accommodate the Santa Clara County health guidelines. According to the SJSU adapt plan for COVID-19, the residence halls are operating at 50% to 60% capacity with one resident per room.
Ross is a resident of Campus Village C and said living on campus has made her feel connected to her studies.
“I feel like definitely if I was back home my motivation would be even lower because here I have nothing to do except for school,” she said.
Although this semester has not been the ideal environment to start fresh at SJSU, new students are doing what they can to make friends and have as much of a college experience as possible.
Freshmen living off campus said they’re using social media, including the SAMMY app, to connect with peers.
Child and adolescent development freshman Katrena Thompson decided to stay home for her first semester and said the few friends she has made on social media have made a huge impact on her.
“My good friend Chris DM’ed me on Instagram and we ended up hanging out and honestly since then we've been inseparable,” Thompson said over the phone. “We hang out all the time.”
Thompson’s friend Sydney Krasno, who goes by Chris, is a freshman who’s an undeclared pre-nursing major. Krasno moved to San Jose from Omaha, Nebraska for the college experience, despite the pandemic, and said the transition was a difficult decision to make but she did it for her own growth.
“I have to remind myself that I'm having a really good time,” she said. “Sometimes I can't help but get choked up and think about everything that I miss.”
Most classes this semester have been conducted remotely because of coronavirus safety guidelines, according to SJSU’s adapt plan.
Krasno explained that no matter what happens next school year, she is going to stay at SJSU, a feeling not all freshmen share.
Ross said if classes remain online in 2021, she will leave SJSU.
“If we're still online in August, I've already decided I'm taking the semester off and I'm going to go to community college, because this is just too expensive for learning online,” Ross said.
Freshmen are not the only students adjusting. Some transfer students have also said the transition to a first semester online was difficult for them.
Transfer psychology junior Dru Coronado said he has found it hard connecting with his classmates over Zoom.
“I think if I had a better grasp on the resources that the school could provide and maybe if I knew more peers in my classes it would have been nice but because I really don't, it has been hard,” Coronado said.
He said despite how tough it is trying to connect with his classmates, he still feels connected to SJSU because he lives with players on the water polo team and watching football games together has given him school spirit.
Sports have served as a unifying factor for SJSU students starting their college careers to connect better to the campus community.
Batya Bagully is a kinesiology sophomore who transferred from the University of Hawaii this semester to play for the SJSU women’s soccer team. She said the team has helped her feel more connected to the school.
“Being part of the soccer team means I am always surrounded by friends. Making friends outside of the team is difficult most semesters, but this one, because it is [remote], it is almost impossible,” Bagully said.
Like a lot of her peers, Bagully is looking forward to the return of normalcy in the near future.
“It has been a strange semester to say the least,” Bagully said. “I am hopeful that the next semester will be less disruptive and things start to get back to normal.”
