How Dean’s Class of 2025 is Adjusting to the College Experience
For many, entering college is already a life changing experience. Living alone for the first time, making new friends, saying goodbye to their high school ones. It is a lot. However, for the class of 2025 the freshman experience is quite different than those of the past. The coronavirus pandemic has stripped them from the traditional high school experience, and now, the traditional college experience as well.
September is an exciting time for Dean. A brand-new school year has begun, and students are ready to tackle the fall semester. Last fall was vastly different for the Dean community. The entire college community was left to figure out the ups and downs of remote learning. Each student was fully online for the entire semester. Remote learning is hard on everyone. Students were not able to interact with their peers, professors, or participate in the traditional Dean College experience everyone knows and loves. No welcome back barbeque, no homecoming, no in-person learning. Dean was not the only school to go fully remote, high schools as well were instructing their students virtually. Which meant no Friday night football, no senior sunrise, no prom. Therefore, the incoming class of 2025 have not gotten the traditional school experience as they once hoped for and are now being thrown into college in a semi-normal, post-pandemic life.
As students across the country were packing up their belongings and moving into college for the very first time, we saw many students unable to adjust, transfer to different schools, or drop out altogether within the first week. Freshmen at colleges and universities were documenting their experiences on Tik Tok and highlighting the struggle of adjusting. These students had no in-person learning/traditional schooling for months, limited social interaction with their peers, and were thrust into what “normal” college is like.
Many institutions have little to no COVID-19 restrictions other than mask mandates, Dean included. According to the official Dean website, “Dean is requiring the use of a mask for all individuals, regardless of vaccination status while in any indoor space. Masks may be removed only while eating in the Smith Dining Center or while in your residence hall room. Any student with an approved exemption must also wear a mask while outdoors on campus.”
Everything is back to normal on campus and freshmen are expected to adjust accordingly. Senior Community Advisor Emily Wallace says, “The freshmen are ready to take on college. They had the end of their high school experience taken from them due to the pandemic, so I see a lot of eager and excited students who are ready to take up every opportunity.” Unlike the stories circling around Tik Tok, Dean freshman seem to be taking advantage of every opportunity thus far and making the most of their time here. Wallace also says that not being able to enjoy their senior year of high school is what impacted the freshman the most. “The proms, the Friday night football games, the senior nights. All of the events that they waited years for were taken from them, so as a CA I want to be able to provide what I can of a fun experience.”