With fall classes starting in mere days, Gen Z is once again faced with uncertainty, upheaval, and fear. In a 24/7 news cycle, it is virtually impossible that any member of Gen Z, many attached at the hip to a smart phone, has escaped the barrage of news, images, and statistics related to COVID-19. From reading almost daily stories about college and COVID, I, for one, feel certain that many students’ lives are getting ready to suddenly "pivot" yet again.
As our country continues to deal with the pandemic, our adolescents, members of Generation Z are feeling the impact a prolonged crisis that may push some of them to new limits. While in some ways they have been in training for this their whole lives, we must be cognizant of the deep sense of loss many may feel as something else for which they have also been training implodes: college.
Gen Z’s, also known as IGen and born between 1996 and 2010, earliest memories likely include television images of the Twin Towers falling as our nation was violently attacked. Not long after, Gen Z watched their families navigate a recession. Our country has been at war for most of their lives, and they have ready access to technology the simultaneously allows them to laugh out loud to the hilarious memes they are bombarded with, breeze through school work that for us involved many late nights scrolling through microfiche in poorly-lit libraries, binge watch their favorite shows with popcorn they don’t have to pop and without ads, and watch a human being take his last breath at the hands of the very people they should trust to protect them. The only thing that could possibly make matters worse is a pandemic; oh wait… If this sounds scary, it’s because it is. If it sounds like they must be resilient group of young people, it’s because they are!
As the oldest Gen Zers graduated from college in 2020, others looked forward to being elevated to upper-classmen status or becoming the Class of 2024. With all they had already experienced in their relatively short lives, it is little wonder that college campuses around the country have been dealing with unprecedented mental health issues and parents may find their teens less willing than they were to travel far from home to college.
While the UC system announced last spring that all fall instruction would be online, and others came to that decision earlier in the summer, still, others announced re-opening plans and blue-prints for a safe return to campus that gave our college students a new sense of optimism and freedom.
My own daughter is one such student. After the senior year she had looked forward to since 9th grade abruptly ended, she immersed herself in connecting with other Class of 2024 members at her dream college, bonding with her roommate, ordering a myriad of dorm décor, and virtually meeting with her adviser and finalizing her fall schedule. When, two weeks ago, she got her move-in date and time, she was borderline ecstatic that all of her hard work and the application frenzy that was her fall finally paid off: she could leave home! And then. On Friday, the president of her college sent the email she had been dreading. Campus will not open this fall; all classes will be online.
As we spent the weekend discussing the financial sense of online classes with a four-year school price tag, she hurriedly emailed her admissions counselor, selected community college classes, and carefully packed up her dorm room supplies and put them in the basement. Although I believe we prepared her well for this possibility, with no time to process as she rushes to ensure she can take a full load of online classes with a two-year school price tag (so not part of her plan), I am cognizant of the deep sense of loss she must be feeling. Like the runner who has trained a lifetime for the Boston Marathon, only to have it canceled after lacing up, the disappointment and loss she is feeling must be profound.
As empty nest plans are put on hold and working from home is so old, parents are challenged to be patient. We must acknowledge our students’ loss, give them time and space to grieve. I feel confident that the collective sense of Gen Z resilience and optimism will soon emerge: I hope you do too!
Stay healthy. Stay hopeful.
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