Some adjust easily to all online classes

More than ever, student life is taking place online given the cancellation of in-person classes. / VN photo by CLAIRE PATTERSON

BY VIRIDIANA CAMACHO / VN STAFF WRITER

The coronavirus has brought the school system to its knees.

Almost everyone is feeling the effects of this pandemic.

Businesses are shutting down.

Food and toilet paper are being limited per household.

Seniors are seeing their walk across the graduation stage vanish like a mirage.

At Detroit Mercy, the transition from small, in-person classes to online education has taken place.

For some, it hasn’t been a big change.

“I was already taking (online courses),” said Zaria Reid. “So adjusting hasn’t been too hard. However, it is hard at times because now I’m at home and not on campus so I really have to be responsible and keep track of my productivity.”

Some students are not as lucky.

Malik Ochoa attends the University of Michigan.

“One of my biggest struggles came from my laptop not charging and this stressed me out a lot considering that I would need access for online work and attending classes,” he said.

Ochoa said that because of his scholarship he was able to get his laptop fixed and had a huge burden lifted off him.

Campus closures have been an inconvenience to some, but for Laura Garcia it brought some relief.

“The decision to change the format of classes was convenient to me because my license expired a week before the big announcement” she said. “Now commuting to campus is not a problem.”

For a lot of professors, this was a major step.

They went from in-class assignments and lectures to putting their whole curriculum online.

“My teachers have been awesome and are trying their best to still deliver material in a way that we can learn it,” said Alondra Guzman.

She commended professor Matt Mio for “doing a great job getting us to learn a very hard subject.”

Kori Tucker transferred from Detroit Mercy to Michigan this semester.

“For some people, I know these online classes aren’t going to be good because not everyone is able to keep track of everything as well as they could in a school environment,” she said.

The pandemic has made people stay in their homes except if their work or outing is considered essential.

For most, school or work was a safety net – a home away from home.

“Staying in is extremely difficult because I am accustomed to being everywhere except home,” Garcia said. “Usually I can be found at Detroit Mercy’s library, but I am extremely bored now that I am basically confined to my home.”

She said she has found new things to do while at home.

She has made her own sanitizer (thanks to YouTube), painted her room and given “terrible haircuts to my brother and dog.”

Ochoa shared, “My hope is that the stress and worry will be worth it when we can all move past this time together.”