Samantha Freed is a freshman from Monaca.
Samantha Freed
Freshman, Engineering
Baden, PA
Posted May 11, 2020
Since the University announced that we were going online for the rest of the semester, my classes have changed a lot. Before I would have to get up at 6:30 in the morning to get ready for my 8 a.m. class. I would also have to drive to school, which would take about 25 minutes. Now I can get up at 7:55 a.m., roll out of bed and log online for my 8 am class.
I am not a morning person so after I have finished my early morning classes I can roll right back into bed and take a nap. This is one of my favorite benefits of online classes. Naps in college are underrated. After you stay up the night before until 1 a.m. working on a project, it is nice to take a nap during the next day.
Something that is a disadvantage of online learning is the lack of contact with the teachers and students. Some of my lecture classes do not even give lectures anymore. They send out PowerPoints or study guides and expect us to read the book and understand it. This just means we have to work twice as hard to try and comprehend the material.
Something that really stresses me out about the online learning is the time limits. Some of our teachers give us very short time limits for quizzes and tests. I understand that we would have the same amount of time if we were on campus, but we aren’t. In my case, I need to be in a quiet classroom to concentrate. In my house, my family is very loud, so it is challenging to concentrate. Then I get worked up during tests and quizzes because I cannot concentrate, and I am nervous I will not finish on time.
Fortunately, our professors are very understanding. One time I finished a quiz a minute after it was submitted. I emailed the professor and he was very understanding, and I still got full points. There was also one time the power was knocked out by a storm and I missed a quiz because I did not have Wi-Fi to log on to my computer. My professor was, once again, very understanding and let me make up the quiz.
Online classes have been very stressful for students and teachers. Luckily the Penn State staff and faculty have been very understanding during these interesting times.
Posted April 23, 2020
Ever since the COVID-19 virus caused our classes to move to remote learning, a lot in my life has changed.
When I came to Penn State, I got involved in a lot of things. I joined the Penn State Beaver women’s soccer team. This took up a lot of time in my schedule. I used to work out multiple times during the week at the Penn State gym or at Planet Fitness. The women’s soccer team and the men’s soccer team also used to have pick-up games at least once a week in the gym.
When we weren’t allowed to return to campus, that all changed. I do not get to do my regular workouts or play soccer as often as I used to. I can still work out a little bit at home, but it is definitely not the same.
Since joining the soccer team, I also met my closest friends. I had a close group of about six or seven people, but also pretty much everyone on both soccer teams was very close. We would all hang out daily in the Bistro and then go to Pittsburgh on the weekends to try to find new places to eat or places to take pictures.
Ever since quarantine, all of our adventures have stopped. Unfortunately, I do not get to talk to most of them anymore. We see each other on social media, but it’s not like it used to be.
My close group of friends and I still talk. We text and FaceTime a lot. For a while, we would all FaceTime during Common Hour kind of like we were all together again. Normally, most of my free time was spent at Penn State hanging out with them. Some weeks I would spend more time there than I did at my own house.
Since quarantine, I obviously can’t leave my house, so it has definitely been an adjustment. It’s OK though. We are hopeful and excited about the fall semester and going on more adventures. Right now, we are focused on staying home while the world tries to fight against the coronavirus.