By The Commuter Staff
After two years since reopening campus, Frederick Community College began the fall semester by removing the required mask mandate.
Early in the semester, The Commuter staff asked students on campus how they felt about the change.
“I take all of my current classes in person,” said Sebastian Velasquez, 19, a psychology major. “I definitely prefer in-person learning over online, because I’m able to focus a lot easier.”
Donya Brooks, 20, a computer science major, said “I like in-person more; I have poor time management and Zoom doesn’t help with that. Online classes don’t feel like real learning.”
Many students said they preferred in-person to online learning. A common theme among the students was an expressed frustration with the sudden switch to an online-only learning environment, many students who were used to attending classes in-person all their life found adapting to this setting extremely stressful and difficult.
“I thought they handled the switch poorly…” said Joseph Klubi, 22, a cybersecurity major. “…professors would go on tangents unrelated to the subject and then info dump everything on a PowerPoint and expected you to memorize it. It was incredibly frustrating.”.
Not only did the pandemic marked an era of stress and frustration, but also an era of isolation.
Human interaction was something many took for granted when the pandemic started.
“At first glance, I was unphased about the switch to online classes,” said Camryn Martin, 18, a general studies major. “But about three weeks in, I got depressed because I realized I wasn’t going to see people face to face for a long time.”
Last year, thanks to the arrival of vaccines and the decreasing cases of COVID-19, schools such as FCC started to open their doors, with the exception of requiring every student and staff member to wear a mask. With the lifting of the mask mandate, many students see it as a bygone necessity.
“I don’t miss it personally,” said Thomas Besok, 22, about the masks.
Caitlyn Evans, 21, said “It was kind of uncomfortable, sitting in class wearing a mask.”
“We wore them everywhere; even during P.E. sometimes, but when they got rid of them, I stopped immediately,” said King David, 18, an information technology major.
With the world slowly moving out of COVID-19 pandemic, there is now a growing concern over monkeypox.
