SAN DIEGO — I knew being forced out of the nest would be hard, but I never expected it to be like this.
All of my roommates moved away, my job duties at school are depleted, all my classes are online and my graduation has been postponed by six months.
To make matters worse, I am now staring at my webportal screen -- expected to vote for next year’s student body representatives while the world battles the coronavirus pandemic.
How can one focus on classes, let alone a student body election, in this pandemic?
Certainly not this worn-out college student. Especially when we have such a larger-scale election looming over our heads.
This isn’t a unique take on the matter. I am a student journalist who’s spoken with many students who are just as irate, pissed and straight-up confused as to what we are doing, and where we are going.
Fortunately, I have the privilege of being 23, living off-campus with a job to keep me sustained without reliance on school.
For my peers who lived on campus, their story is much more unfortunate. They were only given a day to pack up their things and go home -- with some living in other countries.
No shade toward San Diego State University -- we are all doing the best we can here. SDSU, besides their housing issues, has sent out timely emails as this pandemic has evolved.
As a young, soon-to-be college graduate, there is a sense of anxiety that I should be doing more.
I must be forgetting that I have five classes that are waiting for me online. I’m sure we all sometimes forget those are actually happening.
Homework has been tough to manage given much looser class schedules. It also doesn’t help that we are trying to collectively fight off a global pandemic.
Online classes have their positives though. I’m sure any college student will give their own unique thought on the matter. The fact that we have been able to shift our entire school’s student body election campaigns to an online format is something noteworthy to come out of this.
Looking at how SDSU adapted to going online, as well as jobs allowing you to work from home really makes one think about the future of the job market.
If this pandemic keeps us inside any longer, more small businesses will fail and will slowly but surely tank the economy.
Unemployment projections already seem daunting and I have friends and family losing out on precious work hours due to this virus. In this process, we are learning that a lot of jobs can adapt to letting more employees work from home than we originally estimated.
The same can be said for voting in real-world elections too when looking at SDSU’s student elections.
The future is showing us a long and grueling bounceback depending on how long we have to ride out this wave of sickness. But also a lot of opportunity in the future of how efficiently we work.
The decisions we make now as college graduates, navigating through this unprecedented time, is pivotal to how we will make it in the future post-coronavirus.
Oftentimes I think about the last time I walked through SDSU’s campus. Who knew that would be the last time as a student, ever. And it was before we even went on spring break.
I thought my education would end in climactic fireworks. Instead, it is ending behind a screen while the world is awaiting the next steps - next steps that will mean all the world to us as we enter the working world.
Jack Molmud will graduate this year from SDSU with a degree in journalism. He currently acts as an editor for the university's The Daily Aztec.
