The last picture of Redding I have

Adam Bonar

Entering the second semester of my college career, I was filled with excitement and hope. Hope in not only obtaining academic success in my classes but hope in making the most of this semester by continuing to create new relationships and meet new people and participate in a wide variety of extracurricular activities that I enjoyed doing. It was made very apparent after a month into the semester those hopes would become moot. It certainly was not the most ideal of circumstances, as being sent home as abruptly as I was meant severing ties with freshman year far too early. I was just beginning to settle into my classes, then COVID-19 was upon us. While distressing and simply sad, I have learned many lessons, before and after being rushed home. 

I am very grateful for having enrolled in this English class. This class revealed the value of discussion about impactful topics. Discussing issues such as income inequality, the effect of media on adolescence and others, screen time, and more, I have gained an appreciation for seminar-style and intellectual discussions that I look forward to continuing to have in the future. Additionally, I also learned the important value of being informed, as there is a very large overlap between this class and what goes on in our world, and being able to apply what exactly is happening in the world to discussion is critical. Lastly, not only were these discussions helpful in learning how to present information to others and improving social skills, but these discussions are vital to solving the issues of our world today, which I believe is an invaluable skill. 

I think one skill that many students can agree upon having learned from this pandemic is adaptation. Adapting to this was vital in succeeding remotely for school, and simply staying virus-free. I also was able to learn how to conduct remote meetings using Zoom, which I am sure will become of valuable use to me in my future. Lastly, with all that was thrown upon us with this pandemic, I learned how to maintain social relationships quite effectively. We talked about the indispensable value in class of face-to-face interactions, which is undeniably true. However, if it weren’t for avenues such as social media, texting, or FaceTime, I would not have been able to stay up-to-date with my friends. If anything, some relationships even grew stronger. 

This semester was certainly not normal. One could say it tested our resilience to succeed. While trying circumstances, many lessons can be learned from this, and I am grateful for them. Hopefully, we will one day look back on this as an obstacle in life that we were able to overcome, just as our generation has proven time and time again. Thank you, Dan, for making an English class I initially dreaded to be one of my favorite classes and extremely worthwhile.