On March 16 2020, Nicole Aranzanso was on the GO train travelling to school, looking around campus and trying to meet up with her group to finish a project. When she arrived at school, she realized that the place looked emptier than it was supposed to be. 

“The hall was empty and we were all thinking that we would come back next week,” said Aranzanso. 

Later that day, George Brown College (GBC) closed the doors to its four campuses, kicking off an unprecedented year of challenges, frustration and stress at the college. College employees now had to work from home and courses were restructured for online delivery. Students, however, suffered the most. 

In the weeks preceding March 16, the coronavirus pandemic has heightened in Canada and around the world. Just five days before the college announced the lockdown, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel virus outbreak as a global pandemic. 

While the whole world was feeling the impacts, students remained anxious and wondered about the fate of their academic and professional careers. 

“I was halfway through my second last year when lockdown happened,” said Nicole Aranzanso, a third-year Interaction Design student at GBC. “I was definitely sad just because I was going into my final year.” 

When Rowenna James, then a first-year fashion management student, received a call from her mother about the COVID-19 situation, she was in shock that she will be moving out of student residence sooner than expected. 

 “I was in [residence] with my friend when I got the email,” James says. “I didn’t think much of [COVID-19] until the school shut down and then I was like ‘wow, this is serious!’.” 

James, similar to many other students, never suspected the situation to be dangerous at first. That is, at least, not until the school announced the shut down. 

“I was scared to go outside and I didn’t have a mask then,” said James. “I stayed inside for two days before going home with my family.” 

“The transition was fine, but the workload was overwhelming,” says James. 

Along with her academic commitments, James works a job at a bubble tea store while managing her own clothing business. However, with the school being shut down, she realized that her priorities had changed. 

“I wasn’t thinking much of my business when the pandemic started, because I was too focused on online school,” said James. “It was difficult having to search for everything on Blackboard and not being able to interact with classmates about homework.” 

James thought that in-person classes would resume in the Fall 2020 semester. On the contrary, the situation seemed to worsen over time, and many students began to lose hope of returning to a normal campus.

While James was waiting in residence for her parents, Aranzanso was sitting on the GO train, heading to her house in the Durham region. But while she boarded the GO train, an email was sent to her about the senior leadership teams’ decision.

“I was like ‘No, this is crazy,’” Aranzanso said. “I was in ultimate panic mode, and my main concern was finishing my final project but I never realized how it would impact the rest of my life.” 

The transition to online learning was a challenge to Aranzanso. Since she didn’t interact with her classmates as much, she felt less motivated to complete schoolwork. 

“I get my creative drive from talking to people and having a conversation about my projects,” said Aranzanso. “And that’s really difficult to do now because it is hard to meet up with your group members and your professors.” 

Aranzanso also says that her personal, academic, and social life have been blurred together since she started studying from home. Like James, she was afraid to be infected with the virus as well. As a cancer survivor on two years of remission before the COVID-19 pandemic, Aranzanso had felt the added stress of adapting to virtual learning. 

“I spent my first year undergoing at-home chemotherapy at GBC,” said Aranzanso. “I was taking pills daily and I was still able to go to school, while doing that so it kept me distracted from what was going on and I was still able to complete my courses.”

She says that trying to keep herself physically and mentally healthy is incredibly important when going to school during a pandemic. Although she has faced numerous challenges, she is still determined to create a comforting environment and finish her diploma with great results. 

“I was definitely waking up later because I didn’t have to commute,” said Aranzanso. “I tried my best to participate in class discussions and try to simulate the experience of in-person class through online class.” 

Aranzanso spent time with her family and took breaks as much as she could. Sometimes, she would go out for a walk or listen to music as a source of escape. As a student in a design program, Aranzanso loves to create and draw on her free time, and began to paint in order to cope with current situations. 

Danna Tan, a second-year special event management student at GBC, recently returned to school for the Winter 2020 term. While she was sitting in her house mid-semester, she noticed an email from the college, announcing the closure. She, like James, thought that the pandemic would be eradicated by the end of 2020. 

“Even while it was happening, I hoped that it would end,” said Tan. “I just couldn’t believe that this was happening – it didn’t feel real when the profs were talking about it but now that the fact there was a pandemic going on, really hit.” 

At the time, millions of thoughts were running through Tan’s head. She felt sad that she couldn’t interact with her classmates regularly, and angry since she thought she returned to the program at the wrong time. While adjusting to virtual classes, Tan was also working three jobs. However, Tan says she was glad to have a break from running around between classes and work. 

“Because I was working a lot, it was nice to stay at home at first,” said Tan. “But then it got old really quickly.” 

She rescued a puppy from Mexico, a trend that became popular over the course of the pandemic, and stayed indoors to play with her pet. 

“I’m still hoping that I can have somewhat of a normal year by the end of this year,” said Tan. “Fingers crossed.” 

 But while the school’s shut down was a surprise to many students, others were expecting it.

“I was kind of expecting the school to shut down,” said Kate Hyunh. a second-year student studying Business Administration with a specialization in Tourism and Hospitality. “Our professors were saying that they didn’t know what was going to happen and they were having meetings. They told us to expect anything.” 

When she saw the school’s email, Hyunh knew that she needed to transition her study habits towards a new environment. Similar to James and Aranzanso, Hyunh found herself studying and completing much more coursework, even though she said that she didn’t have trouble adjusting to online courses. 

“I think we were just too busy because exams were coming up,” Hyunh said. “So my thoughts were just to get ready for the exams, so there was more uncertainty about the exams.”

Hyunh says she never would have predicted that remote learning would have to continue for so long. However, as time passed, she realized that the situation was becoming more unpredictable every day. 

“When September rolls around, we were thinking we might go back to class in another month. And when another month went around, we were like okay we will go back in the winter semester,” said Hyunh. “And then when close to Christmas came around, we were still unsure if we were going back in the Winter semester until literally two to three weeks before the semester started.” 

In order to discuss course material and keep up with current events, students used Blackboard and other digital software and interacted with other classmates. 

“I interact with classmates to keep up with news,” said Aranzanso. “I have group chats on WhatsApp or on Instagram, and I usually facetime my friends, especially my group members. We started using Discord and we made a server channel to keep up with each other.” 

Hyunh also engaged in class discussions as well to learn the material. And with what she has experienced, she now is expecting anything thrown her way. 

“I think I feel optimistic with the vaccine coming out and everything,” said Hyunh. “But not everything is going to be okay right away, so it might take another year.” 

With everything that happened in 2020,  students around GBC came together as a virtual community. After all, they say that it was a form of resilience and determination despite the adversities. 

“I struggled in the beginning to adapt and I am still struggling to adapt, but I think, just having hope that we will eventually get back to normal, has helped,” said Aranzanso.

To read the Dialog‘s story on the COVID closure from GBC staff’s perspective, click here.