What’s it like to start college in the middle of a pandemic? Here’s how freshmen at 5 Maryland schools are dealing.

For people making a major life transition in the middle of a pandemic, some incoming college freshmen have come to terms with the weirdness of their circumstances.

This is a snapshot of what it’s like for students at five Maryland schools who are logging on to “Zoom University” for the first time, on campus or from their childhood bedrooms.

Morgan State University

Iyana Gross made an unusual decision this spring — she chose an out-of-state university.

When the pandemic hit and students were left to make decisions about which university to attend without having visited many of them, they often flocked to schools closer to home or universities that were less expensive.

But Gross, who is from Chicago, decided on Morgan State University, which she described as being the perfect mix of everything she was looking for.

“I’m from Chicago, and so I enjoy being in a big city,” she said. “But I also wanted to be at a school that had a gender studies program, and they have a gender studies program.”

“In the future, I’d like to go to medical school, or at least be in the medical field,” Gross added. “I chose Morgan because the program I’m in, medical technology, all of their graduates, within six months of graduating, have a job in their field. And for me, that is great.”

Even though she’s attending virtual classes from several hundred miles away, Gross said she feels like the university has made a good effort to reach out and organize virtual events for students.

Morgan State University also has a peer mentorship program, where older STEM students are partnered with incoming freshmen for their first two semesters.

“I love talking to my mentor. She checks in on me every week and she always sends me a ‘Happy Monday, hope things are going well,” Gross said. “She’s just been very supportive.”

While Morgan State allowed a limited number of students to return to campus, Gross, who’s immunocompromised, felt it was safer for her to stay at home this semester.

“I wasn’t necessarily willing to risk it,” Gross said, noting that while she might be doing everything she can to keep herself safe, she can’t control who she might be exposed to.

She’s also not sure if she’ll come to campus in the spring, even if it does reopen.

“It’s just not something I’m willing to take a chance on,” Gross said. “But catch me there in August 2021.”

University of Maryland, Baltimore County:

When the pandemic hit in March, Chinenye Armstrong Christopher had to make difficult decisions about what college he wanted to attend.

“'Cause of COVID 1/8 19 3/8, I didn’t want to leave the state,” he said.

Christopher, who’s from Pikesville, had been accepted by University of Maryland, Baltimore County, University of Maryland, College Park, Towson University, Penn State University and Howard University, but ruled out the last two for their distance.

But Christopher is more than happy with his decision to attend UMBC.

“I didn’t know I really wanted to go to this school until I got my acceptance letter. That was the time I realized I needed to go there, because I was genuinely happy that I got in,” he said.

Christopher is currently living on campus, a decision that he felt would help him focus on his coursework.

“I’m the oldest child, of three, so everyone usually depends on me for a lot of things,” he said. “I thought it’d be the best opportunity to get away from those responsibilities.”

With fewer students on campus and in the dorms due to coronavirus, Christopher said he’s had the space to do his schoolwork without many distractions.

“I realized that [living on campus] was the best decision I ever made, because I know if I was home doing college I wouldn’t be able to focus as much,” Christopher said.

As classes started and he adjusted to living on his own, Christopher said he felt anxious about starting college, but that he was ready.

“I feel a little older. I feel like this is giving me a good opportunity to tell me if I’ll make the right decisions or not. I don’t have my mom and dad telling me, ‘Hey, get up, do this,’” he said.

“I feel like college will teach me a lot of lessons in life.”

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Alyssa Chiascione, UMD, College Park freshman

University of Maryland, College Park

Alyssa Chiascione knew she wanted to go all out for her dorm room.

Some students, wary of the fact that they could be kicked off campus at any time due to a coronavirus outbreak, have been limiting their decorations for now, but not Chiascione, who’s from Bel Air.

“I was like ‘No, I’m gonna go all the way out, I’m gonna do this right and be comfortable while I’m here,’” she said.

It helped bring a sense of normalcy to the otherwise strange situation, Chiascione said.

When the pandemic first hit, Chiascione said didn’t know what she was going to do for college.

“I was thinking about maybe just doing community college, 'cause it’s a cheaper path to go, and I was just thinking I could be close to home, and just skip over this whole scary process,” she said.

Ultimately, Chiascione decided she “really wanted the freshman experience.”

“And it’s kind of like making history, moving into college in the middle of a pandemic. I just thought it was kind of cool.”

Being on campus right now is a little bit scary, she added, but Chiascione and other students have been trying to find ways to recreate the typical college experience as best, and as safely, as they can, often just by meeting up for socially distanced meals.

In mid-September, when an entire dorm full of students was potentially exposed to coronavirus after 23 students tested positive for the virus, Chiascione said students became nervous about being sent home for the rest of the semester.

“A lot of us were worried that they were going to shut down the campus,” Chiascione said.

“It was definitely nerve-wracking, because I wanted to go home sometimes and see my family, but I really can’t because I can’t risk bringing it back to them,” she said.

“But I guess that’s what you give up when you move in.”

Johns Hopkins University

Ever since Seo Yeon Jeong’s cousin made the trip halfway across the globe to attend college in America, she’s wanted to follow in his footsteps. She had this big, grand image of the country in her mind, she said. Compared to Seoul, South Korea — where she currently lives — it seemed like a whole new world.

But though Jeong has been a freshman at Johns Hopkins University for well over a month now, the closest she’s come to experiencing its campus in-person was a tour of its buildings, recreated in the video game Minecraft.

She used to go to sleep at around 11 p.m., she says, but now she remains in class until well past that time — keeping up with lectures being streamed thousands of miles away. Her last class ends at 1 a.m. Seoul time, and she’ll stumble to bed, eyes burning from staring at a screen all day.

She says she hasn’t really struck up any personal, intimate connections quite yet. After staring at a screen for hours every day, nobody really wants to hop back on Zoom to chat. But during class, when her classmates have their cameras on, Jeong said everyone looks so happy.

“We can’t really see struggles through a screen, so we don’t really know. Am I the only one who’s finding this difficult?”

Goucher College

Playing sports has been a part of Paige McSavaney’s life for almost before she can remember. But after the coronavirus pandemic brought an early end to her senior year’s tennis season — striking down, in the process, her team’s chance to win the state championship for the third time in a row — it’s been months since she played either sport with a team of other girls. And she misses it like crazy.

Now a freshman at Goucher College, she’s set to play for her new school on its tennis and volleyball teams. But with all undergraduate classes at the college online, she’s only ever met her teammates over Zoom. Instead, she’s been keeping up with workouts one thousand miles away, at home in Boulder, Colorado.

Out of all of her closest friends, McSavaney is the only one who is starting her college career out virtually. At first, she said, it was hard to see her friends having a more normal freshman experience. A little lonely, too.

But lately, McSavaney says she’s been more appreciative of the experience she’s been having: Her parents agreed to let her move out of the house to an apartment about 15 minutes away, as long as she helped with her finances. Living independently, she said, has really tested her confidence.

“I feel much better about envisioning what my life would be like after college," she said.

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