GSF Major Graduate of the Class of 2021 and a Baldwin Scholar, quoted in The New York Times on the surprising life lessons of the pandemic.
“It’s made me realize that not knowing the next step doesn’t mean my world is going to crumble. I think it made me less scared to face the unknown.”
It was the year of college without the college experience.
No packed stadiums and arenas. No intimate, small-group seminars or serendipitous encounters with strangers. No (or fewer) ill-advised nights of beer pong and partying.
It is not likely, if given the choice, that many college students would opt for the past year of distance, separation and perpetual wariness. Still, perhaps surprisingly, for many students, there was much that was gained, as well as much that was lost, in their unwanted suspension of campus life during the coronavirus pandemic.
Madison Alvarado, who graduated from Duke University this month, could no longer enjoy the camaraderie of painting herself blue and the giddy tumult of Duke basketball, which to her was as much about community as sport. As companies stopped hiring last summer, she snagged a summer internship only at the last minute, and was still job-hunting this year.
But she is grateful for an invaluable lesson in dealing with how unpredictable life can be.
“I was the person with a plan,” she said. “A lot of people are following a preset track — pre-med, financial analyst, Ph.D. The pandemic put that in stop mode. It’s made me realize that not knowing the next step doesn’t mean my world is going to crumble. I think it made me less scared to face the unknown.”
To continue reading this New York Times story.
Gender, Sexuality Feminist Studies