Student Voices from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Editor’s Note: It has been a long year dealing with COVID-19 and its long-term fallout. Here is a collection of blog entries about getting through the last year from my commentary and blogging students. Really impressed with what these young people have to say.

Alexis is a student who works full-time along with going to school. Having to be isolated due to COVID-19 made life tough for her.

Jiyoon Kim is a South Korean exchange student at UNK, and when she is feeling too far from home, she makes kalguksu (noodle in soup).

Grace McDonald works at answering the question of “Why are you in choir” through the voice of one of her classmates.

Makenzie Krumland tells the story of a young woman and her family dealing with COVID-19 while stranded in another country.

Ryan Range looks at how his school life changed when everyone was sent home from school in March of 2020. The events of that spring and summer led to him creating an award-winning short film about The World Theatre.

Ashely Hopkins is another of my students who turns to making soup (in this case, chili) when the weather turns cold and there’s not really anywhere to go.

Caity VanDeWalle takes an almost short story approach to telling the story of how her friend Abby dealt with having to go home during the early stages of the pandemic.

And finally… During the summer of 2020 I broke out of isolation for a week or so of motorcycling in Arkansas with an old friend. During that trip I discovered that Bass Reeves, Black lawman, from the HBO series Watchmen was a real person.