Special to BG Independent News
BGSU journalism seniors with introduction by Jan Larson McLaughlin
Lives have been uprooted by the COVID-19 pandemic. My life has become a no-budget version of “Groundhog Day.”
Each morning I get up, put my sweats on, and head to my home office with my dog. I try to find meaningful stories I can get over the phone – appreciative that no one can see me in my ratty sweater, with my rapidly graying roots.
Then I turn my focus to my BGSU journalism classes – where my freshman students are getting their first taste of newswriting, and my seniors are perfecting their trade. I detest teaching online, and miss the spirited discussions in the classroom.
But the impact on the seniors completing the capstone class of their journalism education is much greater than my discomfort with online teaching. They had expectations of long farewells to friends, of spectacular senior projects, and grand celebrations of their educational conquests.
So as one of their assignments, the young journalists have written how COVID-19 has shrunk their lives just as they were preparing for the big world beyond academia.
Here are their stories:
Brionna Scebbi
If I’m being honest, I haven’t processed the situation we’re all in right now. I’ve been struggling to grasp onto anything familiar, to hold onto the idea that we’ll wake up tomorrow and this would all be just a dream.
The only thing that has been pushing me through the motions is stating what I know: As the editor-in-chief of the BG News, I am one of many folks witnessing firsthand how the novel coronavirus is affecting my community, and their fear and sadness make me nauseous with anxiety.
As a BGSU student, I am shifting to online classes that were never intended to be online and struggling entirely to maintain motivation.
As a daughter, granddaughter, cousin and sister, I worry for my family as I have relatives who are elderly or working on the frontlines of the pandemic.
As a friend of people with immune-deficiencies, I have been unable to sleep for fear for their lives.
As a person with asthma, anxiety and depression, I feel trapped in my Bowling Green apartment and like I have zero control of the situation.
As a member of Generation Z, I feel guilty for the ignorance many of my peers displayed by traveling for spring break.
As a human being, I feel overwhelming hope for how the best of humanity is still shining bright through this global nightmare.
As an Ohioan, I am proud of the leadership our governor and department of health director have shown in the face of such adversity.
As a Clevelander, I celebrate my hometown’s medical progress as Cleveland Clinic nurses and doctors continue to fight this virus with everything they have.
As a journalist, I am beaming to be in the company of so many resilient and committed student reporters and look to the example my mentors in the field are setting for us now.
As a college student, I never doubt the tenacity of my fellow Falcons to lift each other up and show unbelievable care and support for those around them.
As a friend and relative, I am finding ways to stay connected with those I loved even better than before quarantine.
As a member of a therapy group, I am growing closer to my group members and finding a stable support system in them.
As a human being, I am understanding that we’re all in this together and we’ll come out the other side.
Jackson Morris
Coronavirus has shaken the world in the most unexpected way possible. Is this the biggest pandemic of our lifetime? I certainly hope so, because I shudder to think of what anything worse than this would look like.
This is what happens when those in charge don’t take illnesses seriously, because now the United States is the leading country in the world with coronavirus cases.
As for me, this hasn’t affected my home life much; I’m still here in my apartment in Bowling Green, which for the most part has been spared from any serious coronavirus cases. That’s probably because we evacuated the university in time (not to mention Ohio has a governor who is competent).
I miss being able to go to class, seeing people, and having structure in my life. It makes me a little depressed that my college career had to end so abruptly like this. Now all I can do is sit at home. For a while having all this alone time is nice, but it eventually gets boring. I miss the discussions from this class. It felt really intimate with such a small group, and now we can’t do that anymore.
One benefit from all of this is I can finish my degree on my own time, which gives me more time to look for a job. I also get to enjoy the luxury of Adobe products from my own laptop for free. That’s about it for the positives, however. I miss life. I want it back. I want all of this to end so the world can resume. Until then, I’ll stay isolated and as healthy as I can.
Abby Shifley
Having my last semester at BGSU interrupted by a global pandemic has led to many novel experiences in my life — some of them challenging. That being said, all the problems I have cannot compare to those who are facing job insecurity, are unable to pay rent on their homes or have underlying health conditions that could be worsened by the virus.
Since I live off campus, I’m also in better shape than many students at BGSU because I have the option to go back to Bowling Green if I have to.
The part of this quarantine that has been the hardest for me is missing my friends — all of whom now live hours away instead of minutes. I am so thankful that technology makes staying connected easier, even if it’s not quite the same.
But my increased reliance on technology does have its pitfalls. My laptop feels like it’s going to explode. It gets hot, starts to run slow and makes strange noises every time I join a web conference with 30 other students plus my instructor. Additionally, I have had to download a plethora of new software on my computer to accommodate my online classes, including WebEx, Zoom, Visual Studio Code and various elements of the Adobe Creative Suite. But I’m thankful I have access to a laptop that can handle this transition (so far).
I have more time on my hands than before, which is a blessing and a curse. Getting a few extra hours of sleep is nice, but sometimes I feel like I’m going to go crazy from boredom, and other times I feel like I’m not doing enough.
My supervisors at my internship with NAMI Wood County have faced many struggles with shifting their work remotely. However, they are successfully moving NAMI’s mental health support groups online and are producing online content to help maintain the many years of work they have done to improve the community’s overall mental health. As an intern, I’m trying to help them in this transition as much as I can by updating their website and creating fun social media posts.
My job as managing editor at the BG News, has also faced struggles, but the publication is continuing with a few adjustments to fit the online format. The young journalists I work with and I are still producing coverage of the community remotely and have a few weekly meetings to stay organized.
One good thing to come out of all the chaos is I’m spending a lot of time with my parents. They live outside of the country half of the time but were able to fly back to Ohio before the pandemic caused national lockdowns and flight cancellations. I’m so thankful they made it back safely and for the newfound time I have with them.
I hope the majority of people are able to emerge from this virus’s rampage relatively unscathed.
Vaughn Cockayne
Online learning is the future of education. As it becomes more and more necessary to work longer hours, to focus more time on the advancement of one’s career, online learning seems to me to be the only option. It is fast, cheap and allows for much more creativity in how an individual approaches their own educational development.
But I really don’t like it. I think I am still in a period of resentment with the system. Because not all of my professors have a nailed down program for these next few weeks and online learning has killed my last college semester.
I did not fully realize how much I wanted to finish out in-person classes until the first day of remote learning. Online classes are shells of what in-person classes are. This is not a reflection of the work or the abilities of the professors who are undoubtedly trying their very hardest to make these confusing times educational. It is my feeling, however, that I will not get as much out of this semester as I would if I were on campus.
But, as a student journalist, my education goes beyond the classroom. So to me, my real gripe with campus closing is that my main outlet for journalism, The BG News, is completely changed. Now that campus is closed many of our writers will not be able to write as consistently or at all. BGSU sports news and campus news are all but completely dry now and, worst of all, the friends that I have made through The BG News are all scattered.
Thankfully, because The BG News is online first, the infrastructure for an online focused publication is there. So, although our content will be heavily focused on COVID-19 and the outbreak for the time being, the content will never fully stop.
This pandemic hitting BG in the middle of my senior year was terrible timing. As a person who already had a serious case of “senioritis,” not being in a classroom has increased it severely. I have moved to making a daily schedule for myself that includes both physical activity and academic projects.
On campus learning offered a strange structure, but it was at least a structure that I didn’t have to create. Finding the motivation was very difficult when all that I have been doing is sitting inside for the past two weeks. I am extremely thankful that I was not living in student housing. I have been living in a house off campus for the past year and a half so my living situation has not changed really at all. Those who were living in on campus housing have it much worse than I do. They have to in many cases brave both the educational wastes of online classes, and living at home.
Everyday I am trying to find positives to the COVID-19 quarantine and the move to online learning. The influx of free time, learning how to structure my days and the new educational experience are all good things, I just need time to see them as such.
Hannah Hawk
Quarantine for me started earlier than others with a trip to the emergency room. Little did I know when I left Bowling Green on Wednesday, March 11, I wouldn’t know the next time I’d be back.
After an emergency visit with my gastroenterologist I was sent to the Blanchard Valley Emergency Room in Findlay. I was running a 100-degree fever, shaking viciously and in more pain than I’d been in a long time. It would be my second visit to the emergency room in a year.
After an X-ray, CAT scan, multiple blood tests and the flu test, I was sent home with a prescription of steroids. All of the tests came back normal and since there weren’t any COVID-19 tests in Ohio, I wasn’t tested, but my nurse believes that I had the virus based on my symptoms.
Thankfully I’m a lot better after being prescribed steroids to fight off the illness. Even though steroids aren’t really supposed to be used to fight off an illness because they tend to weaken the immune system, I’m a bit of a different case since I have Crohn’s.
Crohn’s is an incurable disease that makes your body think it’s always under attack and therefore overcompensates to try to fight off what’s not there which in return harms the body. In order to stop my body from attacking itself I have to be on a certain diet and get IV medicine infusions every six weeks. Since my body can’t digest certain things like vitamins or antibiotics, I’m usually given steroids to fight off any illness.
The hardest part for me about having to leave Bowling Green so suddenly was not being able to say goodbye to my friends, roommates and classmates. Senior year has been flipped upside down.
Without knowing, we walked into our last class ever. We took our last notes in front of a professor during a lecture. We sat around doing homework and studying with our roommates for the last time. We attended or participated in our last sporting event. There were no goodbyes and no closure for a lot of people making everything even more stressful.
Mental health is another important aspect with those who have autoimmune diseases. The slightest change in mood can cause a flare-up and another trip to the emergency room. Staying positive is a big part of my routine now since so many changes have been made.
I think of myself as if I’m a character in the computer game “Sims.” Just like the game, I have certain levels that I have to maintain in order to keep my character healthy. Instead of hunger and sleep, I run off of high levels of being stress-free and relaxed. With all of these changes, it’s hard to keep my levels in check.
The issue of having online classes is scary to many because it’s a learning style that some don’t do well in. This is a struggle for me too, that I try not to worry too much about since it’s out of my control.
At the same time, I feel as though I’ve been having to teach myself in a lot of classes. I feel as though it’s hard to ask the professors questions on things I don’t understand since they don’t answer right away or aren’t there to show me. Without having a good visual of how to do something, I have a harder time learning how to do it and I know other students feel this way too.
Since I had to leave college earlier than a lot of other people, I felt more rushed leaving than ever. Most of my stuff is still at my house back in Bowling Green. Although I do miss my friends and roommates, I knew that when I left I would need to isolate myself immediately because of my autoimmune disease. For someone with a disease, isolation during times of illness isn’t uncommon, so in a way I was already used to it.
Maxwell Marko
The sports world shut down in a matter of hours at the start of the COVID-19 response. With it, millions of fanatics were left on a ledge searching for something to fill the void that takes up so much of their lives.
One confirmed case in the NBA dominoed into NCAA tournament cancellations and professional league suspensions within three consecutive days of each other. For myself, I spent the last three days before spring break trying to cover these events that affected BGSU fans and families. I did not even realize the impact this would have on my work before I left for home.
Much like the fans interested in the latest happenings of their favorite teams, there is no longer any organic stories to pick up from watching games and practices. Everything is at a complete standstill, and so I was I when I came to my senses back home.
It didn’t take long for me to realize how I would have to continue my work, but it was this combined with the changes to my daily student life that shook me. All the way in Buffalo, New York I felt like a galaxy away from what was happening with Bowling Green athletics. I would imagine most people working from home would feel this way as well.
With all of this happening, I feel there is an opportunity. I felt I was being caught in a routine with my sportswriting, and not in a good way. Whether it was a recap of a game or a preview, I felt like I was failing to challenge myself. Now that is being forced on me.
Now is the time to get back to what brought me into sportswriting in the first place. People are what make the story and now sportswriters everywhere are digging for that root. The people involved are more available than ever. It may be harder to find the same emotion over the phone, but I feel these unprecedented times will be good for coming up with unique and forward-thinking ideas.
As a leader of student-journalists, this has pushed my communication skills. I now need to be as clear and descriptive as possible, which has been tough. I like being able to go over things in-person with reporters and physically point out ideas in the middle of a conversation.
As bleak as this could have been, I am excited to see what sports journalists everywhere can provide fanbases dying for content on their local teams and programs.
Michelle “Mimi” Miller
When you’re a part of something bigger than yourself, I believe that it becomes a part of you, especially when that something consists of some of the most important people in your life.
For me, that something is being a part of Pi Beta Phi. Knowing that my time in college and my sorority is coming to an end feels sad and scary. What makes the emotions worse is unexpectedly learning the year has been cut short.
With 140,904 reported cases as of today in the U.S. alone, Covid-19 has come through like a wrecking ball. People are asked to remain quarantined and practice social distancing for another 30 days. The need for precautions and increased safety is understandable, but still upsetting because just like that, everything is canceled.
In Pi Beta Phi, the second semester of your senior year can feel bittersweet. The “lasts” are more appreciated and there is a high desire to stay involved because it’s almost over. I feel robbed in a sense by not realizing my “lasts” already happened.
Chapter meetings, philanthropy events, initiation week, formal and more are events I will no longer attend. The sadness I feel comes from never being able to be immersed in our tradition, ritual and sisterhood the same way again. As a former president of the chapter, I am upset about missing my final events, but more importantly, I am upset about no longer actively being a leader in the chapter that helped me become one.
It may seem silly, but my involvement in Pi Phi has changed my life. It’s given me leadership opportunities, helped me seek personal and intellectual growth, has given me the best of friends and taught me how to live a life based on integrity and respect.
Although I am upset with myself for not appreciating things like I should’ve prior to this semester, something I find frustrating about the end of my Pi Phi experience is the lack of accommodation for our members due to Covid-19.
Because of Covid-19, I am unemployed, yet still expected to pay chapter dues. Members expect Pi Phi Headquarters to grant a pardon to not only seniors, but all members due to the current circumstances.
Thankfully, I am on a payment plan which means I haven’t paid dues in full yet. Because of my current financial and unemployment status, I canceled my recurring payments because I need that money for bills.
A saying in Pi Beta Phi is, “it’s not four years, it’s for life.” As that may be true, it’s just not the same after collegiate life. It’s sad that four years marks the timestamp for the home I’ve created here and the family I’ve gained because of Pi Phi. During this quarantine, though, I’ve realized that whether my semester was cut short or not, I’ll never feel like I’ve had enough time in Pi Phi.
I’m excited for what’s to come, not only after Pi Phi, but after my time here at BGSU. I’ll always feel bittersweet that I lived my out “lasts” of college without even knowing it.
Knowing that all seniors are in this together gives me comfort and makes everything coming to a halt less upsetting. The bright side is that I can remain positive about what I did get to experience in my organization and college. I’ll always appreciate the memories, my education, the life lessons and friends I’ve met along the way.
Toni Morris
As a senior, majoring in journalism and photography, my studies involve interacting with people face to face. The spread of COVID-19 has introduced an unexpected challenge of social distance that has greatly affected my photography class and independent study, because I have to be face to face with someone to take their portrait. Though I am able to continue most of my class assignments online, photography requires me to do what I love, but am not as able to do at the moment – interact with people face to face.
For my photography project, while walking on campus or around town I’ve encountered one or two people at a time who’ve allowed me to take their portraits and share about their beliefs. I have seen the way that this project has become more than a project, it has helped show people they are noticed, valuable and loved and that what they believe matters.
I have found that people have really appreciated the opportunity to speak about their beliefs, or even just the opportunity to think about it and talk about it with someone who is willing to be a friend and listen.
For me, as a Christian, this has also been a humbling opportunity to share the good news that is the gospel of Jesus Christ, my personal testimony of how God brought me from death to life through faith in Him, my life since I have been saved and answering any questions about why I believe what I do.
So far, I have spoken with and taken portraits of atheists, agnostic theists, catholics, christians, pagans, hindus and muslims. Some of these conversations have lasted hours, some conversations have led to meeting again and some even turning into friendships.
With the current situation of COVID-19 and the mandate to stay home and social distancing, I am not able to continue the project as I have been for now. However, I knew I wanted to find a way to continue. I think what has been happening around the world with this virus is a sober reminder to people everywhere of the inevitable fact that we do not live forever and we are not promised tomorrow.
While talking with my parents at dinner about how I could continue the project, they came up with the idea to somehow talk with neighbors, both neighbors who I know and love and those who I may not know. I would speak with them at a safe distance through their window or screen door and take a portrait of them from where I stand. Which would mean conversations would still be had and portraits would still be taken.
This will definitely be unique to me as a photographer and specifically to this project, because of the window’s visual reminder of the current isolation that we are experiencing.
With all of this going on, I feel the impact that is felt by those hurting from this. Yet in contrast to the hurt I also see the good that has come out of it, such as time with family and communities coming together.
At home with my family, we have been careful to stay as healthy as possible especially for my dad who has an autoimmune disease. While we are not living in fear of getting sick, we are listening to the mandate to stay at home as much as possible. This extra time at home has been an unexpected blessing, laughing with my little sister, family dinners, church at home with my family, continuing to get together over Google hangout with my small group to pray for each other and all who are being affected around the world, seeing my neighborhood with their families on walks, bike rides, walking their dogs, playing tennis together and overall enjoying the slower pace and simpler moments at home.
I did not expect to be spending my last semester of senior year away from the BGSU campus and the town of Bowling Green. I thought I had more time in the town that my faith and love for Jesus truly began to grow. Being with the people who became my best friends, going to church where I was baptised and fellowshipping with Campus Outreach and ACT which have all been irreplaceable gifts in my life.
Not spending the last semester living with my roommates as planned, riding my bike around campus, hearing the clock tower chime minutes before the hour, being taught in person by my professors, going to my last college games with friends and many other things is very disappointing. But, I am so thankful for Bowling Green and each day spent there, each person I met, everything I learned and mostly my faith being grown in the town I will always know as another home.
