Mikaela David-John, Saint Regis Mohawk, has been an AISES member since 2014 during her undergraduate days at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in advertising and public relations. This spring, she will receive a master’s degree in family, youth, and community sciences from the University of Florida (UF). David-John helped form an AISES College Chapter at UF and is currently the chapter president as well as the current AISES Region 7 Student Representative. She works as a community research coordinator at Partnership for Strong Families, a nonprofit child welfare agency.
Aside from the academic challenges that come with virtual learning, what other obstacles do students face?
One of the biggest challenges of a virtual semester is the social aspect. In person, connections and friendships come naturally. You can walk past a student organization table and get information about its next meeting. Virtually, you must work a lot harder to make those social connections, and sometimes it may seem easier to just wait until things go back to “normal.” Virtual semesters can make it feel like you have no support system, or you are just going through the motions but not really living. One of the biggest things that has helped me is accepting that I am not alone with these feelings. The whole world is going through it, and we will get through it together — there are brighter days to come!
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