Year-In-Review

     Coming onto campus this year, I was excited and nervous.  I had already taken some courses through UC Blue Ash, but physically going to classes and interacting with hundreds of other students was going to be an entirely new experience.  I was looking forward to building relationships and meeting new people.  Then, we got the news that there would be a mask mandate for the majority of the school year. Talk about added complexity to an already scary new environment!

     This mask mandate was challenging from a social perspective, to say the least. So much of getting to initially know another person or to show that you are interested in speaking to them lies in facial expressions. It was extremely frustrating to look at people and have no idea what they looked like, let alone if they appeared interested in having a conversation with you. This year was a huge struggle socially for someone who moved onto campus not knowing anyone else as a "jumping off point".

     In addition to the social aspect, our learning was affected as well. It was difficult to hear lectures or each other in the courses where group discussion was important. Frankly, it affected my desire to even go to class. A huge part of going away to college is to experience the people in addition to the curriculum, and thousands of us missed out on that.  We missed out on personal interactions, events that would normally have been offered, and the chance to smile at a pretty girl across the room.  This was in addition to coming off a senior year in high school where we had no proms, no homecoming dances, and no graduation ceremonies that weren't completed via Zoom.  

   I will admit, being forced to wear masks everywhere did allow me to work on my other social skills to circumvent the challenges mentioned.  Without relying on just my smile, I had to figure out how to use more words and tone to engage people around me. I traveled with the Rally Cats to the UC vs. Navy game in Annapolis and the entire bus ride and inside the hotel we had to wear our masks, even though most of us were already vaccinated. I truly believe I would have had a better experience and forged better friendships had we all been able to interact better. 

    A nice change of pace was being able to travel to other states that didn't have a mask mandate.  Once I was fully vaccinated, it felt great to be able to meet people and interact without covering your most direct method of expression. I traveled with my family to the Cotton Bowl to cheer on UC Football against Alabama, and it was a great break!  

     My goal for next year is to really put myself out there now that the mask mandates are gone. None of us have an excuse anymore to hide behind the coverings and essentially give up trying to meet new people.  I know I fell into that category this year and it was not the first year experience I hoped it would be. Part of that was due to the mask rules and part of that is because I let the masks affect my behavior and attitude about being social. I commit to making changes next year, and even during my summer courses, to make up for how I experienced 2021-2022.