The lasting mental health challenges post-COVID college shutdowns

Graphic of colorful COVID-19 cells. | Graphic by Macon Porterfield

Story by Jasmine Baker

Cover by Macon Porterfield

ANCHOR LEAD:

On March 11, 2020, The World Health Organization characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic. This declaration stunned the world and prompted an immediate wave of closures and cancellations of events, businesses, and schools. Jasmine Baker speaks with college students who are still reeling from their academic shutdown 4 years later.

TRACK:

Just one week after classes began in Fall of 2020 and thousands of University of North Carolina students moved Into the Chapel Hill campus- the University canceled all in-person classes. Not long after, all students were asked to leave the campus as soon as possible.

Caroline Garrett, an out-of-state freshman at the time, decided to move into an off-campus apartment with girls she had just met 15 days ago, as the virus shut down her first year of college.

Caroline Garrett, UNC Senior

I will be the first to say I think the class of 2020 got jipped. I definitely think that experience got ripped away from me. I never got to see what it is like and I never will be able to. I knew that I was in school and experiencing what I my freshman year was like, but it wasn’t the one that I ever dreamed- or anyone else has ever experienced. It was pretty much just me and my three roommates trying to survive and make the most of what that year could have been. 

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The COVID-19 outbreak caused unpredictability in every situation. Josh Aka went from running routes and being recruited to watching the 2020 football season shut down before it could even begin. 

Josh Aka, Ole Miss Football Player

It showed me how much I had my identity confided in a singular sport and it just showed me how quick everything could be taken away. When everything hit, my whole life turned upside down. Because I knew that now they were just going to go solely with who they already have film on, who they already had there. And I thought that I was going to lose a year because of the situation at hand. So when that happened, I’m thinking, “Wow, what does this mean for me?” So that was one of the biggest uncertainties- whether or not I was going to get at least an opportunity to get to the next level. 

TRACK:

Although Aka was able to play again, the return to normalcy was not a simple transition. Child Psychologist Dr. Chaka Coleman is concerned at the lasting effects seen in teens and young adults.

Chaka Coleman, Coleman Child Psychology, PLLC

We assumed that when the kids went back to school in person, that everything would be fine- but those are long-lasting effects in all areas. Whether it’s academic… the gaps that they returned to school with… or if it’s just the anxiety. Now they’ve lost several years. It’s going to take awhile for us to get back where we were or I don’t know if this is a permanent change or not. 

TRACK:

I’m Jasmine Baker reporting.

TAG:

Although the world is still trying to return to its pre-pandemic way of life, a new normal seems to be inevitable.

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