~By: Collette Vladimery~

This semester has been an interesting one to say in the least. I'd like to pay tribute to the major contributor of our journey this semester, COVID-19.

Thank you COVID for making things way more complicated than what it needed to be.

Thank you for putting college student stress at an all-time high.

Thank you for bringing all the little things that we took for granted to light.

On a more positive note. I am confident in saying that despite all the craziness this semester has been, that we have grown and adapted to the inconveniences COVID has brought us.

Maybe we got a little closer to our families, or were able to stick up for ourselves in crazy family situations. We learned how to better communicate better with friends and reach out when or if we need some help or some extra human contact. We learned how to manage our time better, how to balance our lives with insane amounts of homework, unnecessary loads of zoom sessions, work, family, and a very minimal social life. We learned the importance of self care, maybe we even went a little crazy and actually practiced it, being the highly scholastic college kids we are.

We've accomplished WAY more than what I've listed here. And if nobody has said this to you or you haven't heard this enough… You did great. You are awesome. And the most important thing of all. . .

You did the best you could with what you had at hand.

This year that was supposed to be so "clear" (2020) just made everything blurry and gave a few of us whiplash. It lasted way longer than it was supposed to. Please be safe, wash your hands, wear your masks, and be proud of yourself.