Students from low income households persevere

By Taylour Patterson

Many students had to be uprooted and sent home due to the pandemic, and they were forced to learn virtually. 

Students who were back home had lost more than just an on campus college experience. Many were in a place where they lost their form of income as campuses were shut down, and their families at home had lost their sources of income as well. 

This combined with learning in a virtual format was overwhelming for many students across the nation. We learn from this graph how most hardships hit low-income families, and that most had experienced anxiety, depression and food and housing insecurity, during the pandemic. 

Managing through a pandemic as a parent of children with disabilities

By Taylour Patterson 

Life through a pandemic has been difficult as jobs and schooling have both gone virtual during this time. It has been extremely difficult for students to adjust to a new way of learning, but even more difficult for parents to adjust in helping their child, especially those with disabilities. 

Every child with a disability is different, and most parents have had their children learn with specialists for this reason. But as parents have taken on the role of teacher through the pandemic, many have dealt with depression, stress and high anxiety. 

For parent Sherry Butterfield, she being a teacher and parent to a child with Cerebral Palsy has been quite the challenge. Cerebral Palsy can affect the way that someone learns just as much as it affects other parts of the body such as a short attention span, motor difficulties and language difficulties. 

Possible solutions to virtual learning for students with disabilities

By William Jones

Virtual learning has been difficult for students, especially for students with learning disabilities. Learning remotely has been a requirement during the coronavirus pandemic.

It is important instructors include students with disabilities in their lesson plans and teaching strategies. Instructors being aware of students with learning disabilities and accommodating to their needs can further help improve remote learning.     

Improving remote learning is essential to providing equal learning opportunities for students with disabilities.  To accomplish this, the board of education would have to decide the necessary steps to gather a solution to help students with disabilities with virtual learning.

My experience learning virtually this year

By William Jones

Photo/American Psychology Association

The 2021 winter semester was part two of a virtual learning experience for myself and other students. Along with virtual learning, there is emotional stress for students wanting normality at Oakland University. 

The year was different, with guidelines being stricter to students having lesser hybrid classes. It feels like a prison with students questioning if they could see their friends in person. 

Anxiety, loneliness, depression, and other mental illnesses create a barrier that students are vulnerable. Stress is the main factor of the negative emotion with homework and other responsibilities at home that trigger depression. 

Virtual learning through my perspective

By Samantha Sayles

Most college courses remain virtual due to the pandemic. There’s no telling when college education will transition back to normal.

I have attended Oakland University for four years. The past year has been vastly different with  more online learning. Before the pandemic, I took online classes in the winter to commute less in the snow. 

Online classes were different then—they were asynchronous. It was easy for me because I could go at my own pace as long as I turned in assignments by the end of the week.

Oakland University students share life experiences with hearing loss

By Cayla Smith

Alyssa Polizzi, Senior

Alyssa Polizzi, senior Biology major, discusses her experience losing her hearing and embracing the challenge as time went on. (Photo/Alyssa Polizzi)

Alyssa Polizzi wasn’t born with hearing loss, but was admitted to the NICU because of a birth defect called Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, this occurs when the muscle that separates the chest from the abdomen, fails to close in prenatal development. The opening allows the contents of the stomach, intestines or liver to move to the chest, affecting the growth and development of lungs. 

To treat the secondary problems because of this, the medicine she was prescribed, unfortunately burned off inner ear follicles.

“We didn’t know this until the end of first grade, when I showed signs of not being able to hear the teachers properly,” Polizzi said. “I was yelled at a lot by the teachers when I’d get out of my seat and go up to them so I could read their lips better. By second grade, I finally got hearing aids.”

Understanding anxiety and how to cope

Photo/Cayla Smith

By Cayla Smith

This past summer I had a series of really bad panic attacks — the worst they had ever been. I was in a constant state of anxiousness, and I had at least 30 panic attacks over the course of two weeks. 

Panic attacks can drape you with tears, fatigue, loss of appetite and a pain in your chest that makes you feel like you’re dying, even though you don’t know what that feels like. 

There was one panic attack — in particular out of the thirty— where I thought it would  land me in a hospital bed. My heart rate would not go down, I couldn’t breathe no matter how many breathing exercises I tried so hard to do and I couldn’t figure out what was making me have such an uncontrollable panic attack.

A teacher’s perspective on virtual learning

By Samantha Sayles

Special education teacher Amanda Carter works at Brandon High School. She has made several adjustments to help her students continue to learn virtually during the pandemic.

Online school has been a dramatic shift in youth’s lives. Special education teacher Amanda Carter explains how students with disabilities have experienced by switching to online learning.

Due to COVID-19, education nationwide has moved to online learning. While many students adjust well, some students struggle to learn virtually.

Sign language interpreter challenges and tips

By Katie Rockett

A sign language interpreter stands beside Governor Whitmer during a press release in July 2020. Sign language interpreters have gained visibility during the COVID-19 pandemic due to frequent updates and broadcasts. (Photo/WLNS News) 

With the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, many jobs shifted online. Some careers had a tougher transition than others based on the nature of the job, including sign language interpreters. 

The importance of interpreters is often ignored by members of the hearing community, but the pandemic has brought new visibility to the field. 

According to the Frontier, political announcements have frequented the news this year, and next to the speaker is often a sign language interpreter. The key difference is that they are not off to the side like they would have been at in-person events and speeches.

Online classroom camera anxiety

By Tony Dombrowski

Oakland University senior Jaylen Horne attends a Zoom call while sitting inside the Oakland Center in Oakland University’s campus in Rochester, MI, Saturday, March 27, 2021. Horne is one of many students who deal with anxiety while having their cameras on in class. (Photo/Anthony Dombrowski)

It has been more than a year since the COVID-19 pandemic suddenly pushed many classes online, causing additional stress for some students. Specifically, some students have dealt with anxiety while having their cameras on during an online class. 

One of those students is Oakland University senior Jaylen Horne. 

When the pandemic first started and classes went online, Horne initially did not have any issues with virtual learning. Recently, though, he acknowledged his current semester has been “a little difficult,” partly because he does not like keeping his camera on during his classes.