SchoolName: University of Houston

Year: Sophomore

Major: Human Resources Development

GPA: 3.94

Q: Now that all of your classes are online, what does your typical school day look like?

So my schedule is actually very interesting, I have two on-campus roles to fulfill as a student. I am the Director of Court Activities for the homecoming board and I am also the director of recruitment for Dance Marathon and then I’m a student outside of that. So I have to fulfill all that stuff into my schedule. Typically for a regular school day, I'm 5 hours in the office for homecoming, I usually do my school work at night which is from 5 to 10, and then throughout the afternoon when I have little brakes which is usually 3 hours, I'm either doing work for homecoming or taking a mental break.

Q: As far as your on-campus duties, and can you explain to me a little bit about your role?

For homecoming, I'm the Director of Court Activities. What that basically entails is, anyone who wants to apply to be on the Homecoming Court, I process the application and I get them involved with an interview request. For Dance Marathon, I'm the Director of Recruitment. For that role, we raise money for our local hospital and as the Director of Recruitment, it's basically my job to recruit organizations, sororities, fraternities, and individual participants who want to participate.

Q: How have these roles been affected by COVID-19 since you can't go out and meet these people now?

I think it has actually become more difficult. With everything being virtual it actually gives people more access ability to not want to come to the meetings versus actually sending them an email saying where you go to meet up, at what day, and what time. I think sending out virtual links to Zoom or something gives these people the opportunity to not show up which has made my job more difficult as well as for other student leaders

Q: As a student, have your teachers provided you with any resources in order to help you out in your classes?

Absolutely, so my university already has a surplus of resources to give. The teachers pretty much repurpose resources and put them into their syllabi and these are things like mental health resources, disability resources, writing centers if you need the help. So yes they are really implementing these services. All of my professors have office hours however I don't typically need to go to them because I usually plan my whole semester before it starts. But if I do need help, those office hours are actually there.

Q: Have you been able at all to connect with any of your classmates?

Absolutely. So we use GroupMe, for example. In one of my classes, we connect and talk about the readings we have to do and break them up into segments where we all write our own personal reflection on.

Q: Do you feel that at the moment your teachers are piling on more homework now that everything's online?

It's about the same as last semester. The workload is fine. Same old same old.

Q: For the online classes that you have are you worried at all that you might not be able to keep up with them?

I am perfectly fine as long as I follow my calendar. Typically what happens is, I have synchronous and asynchronous classes. For my asynchronous classes, my teacher posts up lectures for the following week on Friday. Typically I watch those lectures on Sunday so I don't have to worry about that. For this professor, I do all of his work early so I don't have to worry about it. For my synchronous class, we have to meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays so typically after that, I work in the office for like an extra hour and then I go home and do the work for that class. My other classes are fine but it is self-discipline as well.

Q: When you meet for your synchronous classes how understandable is the material for you?

I like learning, so I think it really just depends on you as a student. I know some people don't want to sit there and listen but I am an avid learner, I like learning about new things.

Q: So you would say then that your teachers are definitely trying with the resources that they have?

Absolutely.

Q: Would you say that your other classmates are engaging with you or that they only participate when they have to?

That's going to be an in-between. Some people are interested, some people are just not alert and don't really care.

Q: Since everything does seem to be going really well for you, is there anything that you wish your teachers or school would Implement in order to help you out as a student?

Not necessarily, I just want all of this to go away. I think this is all very interesting as a student.

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