Citrus College announced classes will be online in the Fall and many students have made the decision to not sign up for classes because classes won’t be in-person.
For some students, it was their first time taking online classes because of the pandemic. They might not have adapted to the changes, felt uncomfortable with the new way of class and had no resources to succeed in online classes at home.
Dominique Domingues, an art and theater student at Citrus, dropped the spring semester. She said she was grateful for emergency withdrawal.
Art and theater majors have had a tough semester. Not only did Zoom not work out for them, but they had to put their education on hold. In-person theater experience is not comparable to online acting.
“It’s just not what I signed up for,” Domingues said in a phone interview.
Most theaters, including the Haugh Performing Arts Center at Citrus are closed until next year Tiina Mittler, Director of the Haugh Performing Arts Center said.
On the other hand Dianna Ruiz, a Cal State East Bay psychology major, decided to stay with her classes because she has two semesters left until she completes her degree.
“Yes, my dorm experience might have been ruined … but I’m making the best of it to pass my five now classes online,” Ruiz said in an in-person interview.
She said her classes were not easy and it was difficult to adapt.
“I was taking four psychology classes for my major and one Theatre Makeup class that I could have easily dropped,” Ruiz said.
She said college students need interaction on a daily basis to experience the comfort of peers, so it is hard being at home with a different environment.
“It was more difficult for me to study, I had no desk or a quiet zone,” Ruiz said. “I had to deal with my sister’s toddler and all the craziness from a Latina household.”
Zoom has worked for many students and professors to keep the semester flowing. Although, theater majors and professors have not experienced the same success with Zoom. Domingues said they miss in-person interactions.
“It’s not the professors’ or the students’ fault; they’re awesome,” Domingues said. “It’s just the experience of it all as a theater major. It was really disappointing that Citrus wouldn’t go back to in-person class.”
