Mind the Gap Year: Seniors consider taking a year off school due to COVID-19

With COVID-19 still infecting millions and impacting all seven and a half billion people, graduating seniors are being forced to reconsider a monumental step in most students’ life ─ going to college ─ and in place take a semester or a full year off of school. 

In Kansas alone, there are almost 4,000 cases of COVID-19 and over 100 deaths with cases still rising, according to The New York Times. Though they may not be fighting on the front lines, the virus’s impact still hits East seniors with the disappointing possibility of not being able to attend their first semester of college.

Even though next semester is roughly three months away, Boston University has been the first American college and university to cancel the first semester, according to Forbes. Instead, classes are scheduled to start in January of next year. While they are the first to cancel, other schools are expected to follow. 

For senior Emma Barickman, the thought of potentially not being able to go to the University of Arkansas next semester is disappointing. 

“It’s really hard to comprehend [not going to college] because you look up to this moment of going off to college, finishing high school and having a normal experience, but not now with everything that’s going on,” Barickman said. 

While the University of Arkansas hasn’t cancelled classes yet, Barickman has accepted the possibility of having to survive through yet another semester of online school, which she says is plan B. 

Having to do more online school could impede students’ progress in school, according to Barickman, who feels it’s been challenging to maintain motivation with East’s online school, especially when it isn’t already required. Being in a classroom environment helps her better grasp the concepts being taught.

“If I personally know my teachers and have that conversation and be in class where I can focus more, it would be better for not only me, but a lot of kids,” Barickman said.

Senior Lizzie MacAdam agrees it’s been difficult to find motivation in this quarter’s online classes. Even though potential online classes at the University of Michigan would be mandatory unlike East’s current voluntary online school policy, she believes there’s a difference between online school and attending classes in-person.

“Especially when the Zoom calls are not mandatory, it’s been a little bit harder for me to get on them and participate,” MacAdam said. “Obviously in college they will be mandatory, but I think it’s harder to prepare for college in online classes than it is in-person classes.”

For this reason, MacAdam is strongly leaning towards taking a gap year next school year. To MacAdam, Michigan’s out-of-state tuition isn’t worth classes held over Zoom meetings.

“I don’t know exactly what my plan would be if I didn’t…but I know that it doesn’t make sense for me to do online school if I’m still paying the price for the whole experience,” MacAdam said.

MacAdam has been thinking about the possibility of doing online school at KU or a local community college to get in-state tuition, along with working and saving up more money for future in-person classes.

Even though a gap year may sound like a nice break over the competitive academics at the University of Michigan, for MacAdam it’s just a longer wait until she can start college, something that she’s been excited for since being accepted in December. 

Between signing up for housing, collecting dorm room inspiration on Pinterest, getting to know her roommate and making friends through Facebook groups and Snapchat, MacAdam has spent a lot of time preparing for her freshman year of college 一 but the experience she’s anticipated may have to wait until 2021.

“When me and my roommate were FaceTiming to sign up for housing we were like, ‘well I really hope we get to live in this dorm and have this room together,’ and you really just don’t know,” MacAdam said. “And it’s just really a disappointment that [cancellation is] a possibility.”

While MacAdam hopes to participate in the college experience that she’s envisioned, she still keeps in mind that no matter what, she’ll still have the opportunity to get an education.

“I’m hoping that we’ll get to go and be there in person, but I don’t want anybody’s health to be at risk or that to be a problem,” MacAdam said. “I really don’t want it to be moved online but if it is, that isn’t the worst thing and we’ll still be able to get an education, even if it’s from our bedrooms.”

Though right now the possibility of beginning their journey through college may seem low, Barickman and MacAdam are still hopeful 一 along with the rest of the class of 2020 一 that they’ll be able to start this chapter of life as planned.