A year has passed since St. Thomas announced the closure of campus due to the growing COVID-19 outbreaks around the country.

With no guarantee of when life would return to normal, students were forced to adapt to a new mode of all virtual learning from home.

“It sucked… I mean, it still sucks,” junior student Sarah Willkom said.

Sitting in a college dorm room all day listening to lectures on Zoom is the new routine, and social distancing from friends and family means there’s no way to get out of the daily class and meals cycle.

Many St. Thomas students have missed out on opportunities in the last year.

Wilkom’s fall study abroad trip to Italy was cancelled, and she has no opportunities to make up this once in a lifetime experience. Thankfully, she found plenty of happiness amidst the time stuck in Minnesota.

“I value the time I spent with my family. We didn’t do much, but we enjoyed each other’s company by playing games and eating meals together. It was time we wouldn’t have gotten to have if COVID did not happen,” Willkom said.

Studying abroad via Zoom is just not the same.

For other Tommies, they missed out on normal sports seasons, like men’s hockey first-year forward Josh Maucieri.

“I miss having fans at hockey games,” Maucieri said.

Sports is about more than just the act of the game, but instead also about the connections and relationships made with teammates and fans that cannot happen during COVID-19.

Although all college students have been affected in the last year, coming into college as a freshman during COVID-19 was a different struggle.

“I feel like I missed out on that college experience that I have heard a lot about. Under the circumstances of this year, it was more difficult than normal to meet new people, attend events, and get to know our campus on a deeper level than just going to class or getting food,” first-year student Logan Ommen said.

From study abroad programs to sports to just the general vibe of college, COVID-19 has changed the way students think about life.

“It’s important to take in the smallest moments because you never know when something like COVID-19 could happen,” first-year student Kristin Kay said.

Lauren Dettmer can be reached at lauren.dettmer@stthomas.edu.