COVID-19 has swept the entire globe and isn’t looking to be leaving anytime soon. It’s already been announced that schools will remain closed for the rest of the academic year and will continue to be online. Some schools have already begun a discussion on what to do for the new school year.

“I was already taking two classes online and two in school so when we made the transition to fully being online, It was very different,” said Jack Eastly who is currently a student at CCAC. “The workload has not decreased at all.”

As for current NASH seniors, they are being left with an unknown about schooling. Colleges like CCAC are continuing summer classes online, and University of California system has announced that it will have school online for the fall semester. Some local colleges like Penn State, University of Pittsburgh, Robert Morris University, and Duquesne University are contemplating whether they will continue online schooling for the fall semester of 2020.

This may come to a great sadness to the current class of 2020 who are looking forward to college. Such things as beginning a new chapter in your life that may include living in a dorm, being on your own, developing new friends outside of high school, and learning how to be an adult may all be put on hold.

For some students already who are enduring schooling online, there are fears about what schooling could mean when they go to college.

“Right now online school doesn’t feel like learning,” said senior Derek Oczypok. “I know its the same material, but there’s a loss of connection between my teachers since I have to teach everything myself” he added.

Online schooling for high school students is already hard enough when they are used to having in-person teaching. Therefore, when students are expected to start college in the fall, some would expect to have the in-person teaching that they are paying thousands of dollars instead of having to learn online.

Oczypok even expressed his opinion if college were to continue online: “I hope this won’t continue into the fall semester because it makes tuition feel like a waste. If I wanted to do school online, then I would have done just that, so hopefully, school can resume in person by then.”

Kevin Shiflett, who’s the father of a senior, said, “There’s both good and bad; good part is that home study creates an environment where you are forced to focus in your studies and have more self-discipline. While the college environment allows you to socially interact with peers and to experience college in the form in which it’s intended.”

This means that colleges for students are sometimes a way to enter into adulthood. However, due to Covid-19, the senior class may have to enter adulthood differently from their original plan. For some students who will be a commuter student, their plans still don’t change except now instead of studying on campus it will have to be done so at home.

Some seniors have even expressed that COVID-19 has robbed them of their senior year, and many hope that the same won’t happen when they start college in the fall.

“I’m excited to start college next year” senior Zehra Mehdi said. “Hopefully, we don’t miss a semester or entire year due to corona.”

Hopefully, by the summer, regulations on social distancing can be lifted as businesses are slowly being reopened in response to the plans of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf. Until then, only one can hope for students across the US who are going to college in the Fall, hopefully, in-person classes and resume.

To learn more about the process of reopening PA, please visit Governor Tom Wolf’s page for more details.