On March 15, 2020, the U.S. had a lockdown in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This meant that in-person classes would transition to online.
Now that in-person classes have returned, more students are finding themselves anxious to return to a classroom setting due to the lack of face-to-face interactions with other students for the past two years.
karina Kaili Hiramoto, a student at Citrus College, said that the process of making new friends is harder. There are not as many students on campus, so that makes socializing even harder.
“Whenever there’s a break in my class, most people go on their phones instead of trying to talk to each other,” Hiramoto said. “I feel like a lot of people forgot how to talk to each other.”
Carissa Dycus, a freshman at Citrus College, said the pandemic made her more of an introvert.
“Not being able to hang out with that many people, it almost like, lowered my tolerance to people,” Dycus said. “I realized I could only hang out with a few people at a time before my social battery would be drained.”
Students are facing similar issues to one another, struggling with different forms of anxiety due to the lack of face-to-face interactions throughout the pandemic.
Some students have spent a majority of their time at Citrus College online, so the transition to in-person has been intense.
Justine Marshall, Citrus College alumna, transferred to Cal State Long Beach last year, and has still been having some trouble transitioning to in-person classes.
“I became so used to my routine, so having to go to an actual school and find my classes was a little overwhelming at first,” Marshall said. “I felt so out of place and it took so long to feel fully comfortable. Even now, things still don’t feel exactly the same as they were before. It’s been a little harder to socialize.”
Some students have even felt a disconnect from friends they had before the pandemic since they weren’t able to meet up and see each other for a long period of time.
Xavier Lopez, a current student at Citrus College, said it’s been a struggle to not only make new friends but also keep in touch with old friends.
“I’m definitely kind of trying to make up for lost time, but also just want to make contact with these people again because it’s been two years,” Lopez said. “I’m mainly just trying to connect further and rebuild some of those connections that might’ve been lost during the pandemic without contact with some of them for such a long time.”
Some students have chosen to continue online learning. Grace Hernandez, who is in the process of enrolling in Citrus College said she refuses to attend classes in person.
“I feel more comfortable being at home,” Hernandez said. “The idea of having to go on campus sounds a little weird to me now. Doing my work at home just sounds better.”
6,149 students (70%) are taking at least one online class in Spring 2022. Out of those, 2,905 students (33% of the total) are taking exclusively online courses, Communications and External Relations Director Melissa Utsuki said.
