Apr 30, 2021
A change in the course
It seemed so unreal at first when everyone was sent home for a prolonged period of time, without any idea of when they return. Things were especially difficult for Tom the Cat, he had just started his second semester of college and was excited to spend the rest of his freshman year enjoying the freedom from being home all winter. Tom had an extremely close group of friends whom he had met at school, and was planning to have a great start to summer at the same time that school was going to start to wrap up, then the unthinkable happened. Before the school was shut down indefinitely, Tom was just finishing up his spring break and was getting ready to return back to school to finish out the semester. Then the email came out, stating that due to Covid-19, the school would be having an extended spring break of one more week, until the students would be able to return. When the news broke out that schools were closed, Tom had panic attack upon panic attack, as he was worried about his grades, his friends, and all of his belongings that he left at school and how to deal with going entirely online for the rest of the year. Going online was the hardest part of the semester, going from in person labs to online labs was not easy, especially since this form of learning was new to everyone. Online learning took a toll on Tom’s mental health, as it was difficult for him to keep up with assignments while in the laid back comfort of his home, making the semester more strenuous than it was to begin with. Tom was trying his hardest to keep up with his schoolwork, but being home still made it difficult to maintain a high grade point average, and because of this, he was forced to stop working his job to be able to focus more on school, yet he ended up finishing the semester with all A’s. All in all, Tom learned that while everything can seem perfect, it can all change in the blink of an eye, and to not be set in stone with what you are doing in life at an early age, as that too can change. Tom also learned that when things seem difficult and impossible, that all you need to do is set your mind to what you need to accomplish, and in the end everything will work out for the better.
