Five Years Post COVID-19

Nicole Campos-Villaran

It’s officially been five years since our country announced a full shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has affected everyone differently but socially there are a lot of impacts. Many people found ways to create connections and stay in touch through games, texting and FaceTime calling.  

On the other hand, many people lost their jobs. People were not just impacted socially but people were stressed out due to the shift in working environments. Not only were many jobs around the world letting people off work, but there was also a challenging shift from in person work to at home. 

In an interview, Gracie Smith (C’27) expressed, “I can’t believe it’s been five years. It feels like a year ago when I was sitting in my office waiting to join my high school zoom classes. However, sitting back and really thinking about it, it’s a little unnerving how fast the time seems to have gone.”  

Smith (C’27) also said, “I learned a great deal of responsibility, and learned how to have fun, adapt, and make the most of life while maintaining good grades in school.”  

However, there were ways that we were able to stay connected with one another since we all had to go through this dreadful time. Carter Kinnear (C '26) mentioned in an interview, “I did Taekwondo for 11 years and a few of those years were during COVID-19.

One of the strangest things was teaching online classes in my basement but I had to relearn everything to teach it backwards to be able to mirror the kids on camera.” 

Many had unthinkable junior and senior years of high school. This impacted the way they were able to experience high school. People’s proms and graduations were cancelled all together which left many people distraught. 

In an Interview Jayla Boykin (C’25) shared, “COVID-19 affected my junior and senior year of high school. I couldn’t attend prom, but I was blessed enough to have a graduation but honestly I felt like those years were needed to mature for college.”  

Students who were graduating with their bachelor’s did not think that their internships would change or jobs.  

In an Interview Samuel Roettger (Grad student) shared, “The summer before graduating with my BS, COVID caused a lot of internship cancellations, meaning that I missed out on some very important career building experience before graduating college.

After graduating, I ended up starting and then quitting a lab job I had over COVID related policies.” It's crazy how five years has passed already, and our country is trying to heal. While we are living normal lives now, we are still dealing with the trauma and healing from the long years of the pandemic.  

However, we were able to overcome such travesty and help each other restore what was lost. Personally, many of us have emerged from the experience stronger, more empathetic, and with a deeper appreciation for life, health and our communities.