This interview was a discussion between, myself, Grayson Schrader, and my friend, James Wagher. Both of us are students and commuters at Southern Wesleyan University. We catch up and talk about what life is like for students transitioning to online classes, dealing with COVID-19, and other experiences during this time. Some content was cut for the purposes of making the interview more concise and streamlined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What was your initial reaction when transitioning to online?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Grayson: I know a little bit of your reaction, but I want you to tell it from your perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n James: My initial reaction was not very happy at all. I was very upset because one; I had already paid for my semester at SWU, which is already extremely expensive, and I knew that transitioning to online classes that I was not getting the full benefit of what I paid for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: Right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n J: And secondly, I live at home and we live in Belton, which is in the middle of nowhere. They don\u2019t run fiber to our house or any kind of landline internet service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: You live on a farm, pretty much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n J: Yeah, we have five people running off of a little hotspot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: Yeah, it\u2019s kind of a miracle we\u2019re even doing this right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n J: Yeah, I\u2019m surprised it\u2019s working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: Yeah well for me, my reaction was at first was like- I didn\u2019t think it was going to be permanent. Like I thought, \u201cOh, this will be a week or two thing,\u201d you know? And then suddenly it kind of got- it got bigger. And then when I had friends that were like, \u201cYeah, I\u2019m coming back to school to get all my stuff,\u201d because like, they hadn\u2019t officially announced it at the time, but it was pretty clear that we weren\u2019t going to meet again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n J: Right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: So people were coming back to their rooms to get their stuff. I\u2019ve only been to campus once, and I think it was like a week or two after everything had happened right after spring break. And I mean, campus was absolutely dead. And when I went there, honestly, I was pretty bummed out because I felt like this had been one of my more fun semesters. I still have a lot of work to do and it was pretty stressful, but I got to hang out with a lot of my friends, including you, a lot more, and I felt like I had made a really good community this semester. [It] had kind of been difficult for me because my freshman year I went to Anderson [University] and I didn\u2019t really have a whole lot of friends there, and then I made some last year- my sophomore year- but this is the year I really felt like I made a lot of connections at school. I mean, we\u2019re a pretty small school so it really sucked when I was like, \u201cOkay, well, I\u2019m back to being trapped at home and feeling isolated.\u201d I\u2019m an introverted person; Me and you, we both like video games and movies and stuff like that. But at the same time, I really like hanging out with my friends so that was probably the biggest disappointment for me. I didn\u2019t mind online as much, although it [can] suck but the main thing is I miss having a community around me and having something to keep me regimented. Nowadays I sleep \u2018til noon every day. My sleep schedule is a wreck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n J: Oh yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How have you been adapting to the sudden change?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n James: Well, like you said, we live on a farm so it\u2019s not that big of an issue with social distancing or anything because we don\u2019t live near anybody. But the main difficult thing has been at work. We\u2019re an \u201cessential\u201d company because we make gearboxes for Amazon and for medical fields and stuff like that, so we\u2019re kind of transitioning into… still having to go to work but still having to maintain safety regulations. We have to stagger our times we come in and times we leave; We have to stagger times between break; We have to get checked out by a nurse every time we come to work and every time we leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grayson: Oh, wow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n J: Yeah, it\u2019s just a process. And then like you said sleep schedule- I get off work and I try my best to stay up for my meeting on Monday which is at 2, and then I try my best to stay up until 5 o\u2019clock and then I crash and sleep. But then the next day I\u2019ll wake up at like 1 or 2 o\u2019clock in the morning and I\u2019m like, \u201cWell what am I going to do now?\u201d I last as long as I can and then crash midafternoon- and I wake up starving because dinner has been made after I\u2019ve already fallen asleep, so like today\u2019s the only day all week I\u2019ve had a full meal. It\u2019s ridiculous- it\u2019s crazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grayson: Has anyone actually at your work contracted the virus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n James: I don\u2019t think so. If they have, they would have gotten sent home and told not to come back. But there aren\u2019t any cases I\u2019ve heard of or they\u2019re really trying hard to cover them up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: So my work was shut down\u2026 mine was shut down probably two or three weeks ago so I had to go through the whole filing-for-unemployment process. I got news yesterday, though, that our work is supposed to be opening back up, which, honestly, I\u2019m not really looking forward to because I was really enjoying not having to go to work\u2026. [for people who don\u2019t know] I work at a golf course. I haven\u2019t been spending a whole lot of money so I haven\u2019t really needed a reason for money other than I really want a car by my senior year- there\u2019s a Camaro I want but that\u2019s beside the point. But how I have been adapting to the change? It\u2019s given me a lot of time to recuperate and kind of focus on myself and just my assignments and stuff. I had kind of gotten behind on a lot of stuff but had school been going on now I probably would have been significantly more behind and distracted. So I still have a lot of assignments to do but, you know, we have so much more time now that it\u2019s easier to get stuff done, especially when literally all I\u2019m doing is going to my friend\u2019s secluded neighborhood which is gated off and he has a gym in his basement. We workout together and we go run; that\u2019s how I\u2019ve been staying in shape because normally I work out a lot. And then just schoolwork and watching movies and playing games\u2026. And also, I\u2019ve been doing the SWU Student Activities live streams that they have every Wednesday. They\u2019ve been alternating between Bingo and Trivia. So I\u2019ve been doing those every week because it gives me a way to stay connected to the school, which is pretty nice. And even Wes Pate, who\u2019s the Student Activities Director, I believe, is doing these \u201cChats From a Distance\u201d thing, and it\u2019s really cool to get different people on there. It\u2019s the best way to maintain some contact, and honestly, I really enjoy having our Zoom meetings sometimes with our classes- our Media classes- because it\u2019s like the only time you\u2019re all really together just talking to one another and seeing each other again. We always have fun in our classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Has it made life harder or easier? Or about the same?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n James: It\u2019s about the same really. Harder in a sense of like, not knowing what to do with all this time. I know I have schoolwork but then I get most of it done and I don\u2019t feel like going ahead and doing the next days. Just kind of finding time to be alone is getting weird because me alone with my thoughts, that\u2019s not a good thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grayson: Yeah, I\u2019m the same way. It\u2019s weird because you\u2019re also more prone to procrastinate so it almost feels like we don\u2019t have school. I\u2019m like, \u201cOh yeah I don\u2019t have to do my schoolwork anymore,\u201d but you do and that can be really problematic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n James: Yeah, at work they\u2019re like, \u201cCan you come in for overtime? We need you for overtime.\u201d Because everyone on our shift is in mandatory overtime so they\u2019re like, \u201cOh, James, why aren\u2019t you coming in on overtime? You don\u2019t have school anymore.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cI kind of do.\u201d They\u2019re like, \u201cYou can work on Thursday!\u201d I have two Zoom meetings on Thursday, I can\u2019t come into work. I would if I could but I can\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: We have more time but at the same time it\u2019s not like school is completely gone out the window. But as soon as it happened I immediately kind of went into summer mode, but I\u2019m like, \u201cI can\u2019t do [that].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n J: I don\u2019t like teaching myself especially [because] I have Quantitative Reasoning, and I went from the teacher teaching in a way that\u2019s practical to a website that\u2019s just throwing formulas at me. I\u2019m having to plug these answers into a website that\u2019s super picky about how I place these answers\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: I think it\u2019s different for every person when it comes to these classes because for me, personally, while I can sometimes be mildly stressed, with my classes\u2026 I don\u2019t have to be as worried but I know a lot of people who been having breakdowns because now that they don\u2019t have as much of a schedule, it\u2019s even more overwhelming to keep track of things, you know? Some people have been like, \u201cYeah I had a breakdown the other day\u201d and I\u2019m like, \u201cOh my gosh, really?\u201d I\u2019m not having that experience, but it\u2019s different for every person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n J: Yeah, it\u2019s like you either have to have that regimented schedule all the time- because like right now I have my whiteboard right here on my wall completely clustered with everything I\u2019ve done but I still don\u2019t know what I have to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: Oh, there\u2019s honey on [the] slats of my window. That\u2019s a cool thing; or not a cool thing. I\u2019ve also been having to deal with- it\u2019s not coronavirus that\u2019s making life harder but-<\/p>\n\n\n\n J: Tornado; bees!<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: Yeah, [there\u2019s] coronavirus and then I lost my job because of that and then we had a freaking tornado which ravaged my town- like buildings destroyed; it\u2019s insane. And then right after we got our internet back, [and] our power back… my mom [tells me], \u201cYeah the bee guy is coming tomorrow!\u201d I couldn\u2019t live in my room for another night. So there was a giant bee infestation in my room so it made things difficult. Everything just happens at once. I don\u2019t know why but it just does. I think [the whole situation] in some ways has made life easier and in some ways, it\u2019s made life harder. I think life has a way of balancing it out. Do you miss in-person classes?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n James: Yes, a lot. First of all, because I paid for in-person classes, so I don\u2019t enjoy self-teaching and I also don\u2019t enjoy being by myself at home having to learn this stuff. I also just enjoy being around new people and being able to meet new people makes those classes more fun and enjoyable and I learn better in that environment. Here it\u2019s just like, \u201cOh my gosh, I have to get this stuff done and then I have to do this,\u201d and I\u2019m not enjoying it so I\u2019m not learning it. All of the stuff I\u2019m doing now, it will be out my brain by the end of the year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Grayson: No, I feel you. I don\u2019t know if I miss the in-person classes as much as I just miss-<\/p>\n\n\n\n J: People.<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: Yeah just people in general. And part of that was the classes, you know, taking classes with people. I\u2019ve already got classes planned with people to make up for lost time and stuff we didn\u2019t have so, you know, next semester I\u2019ll have a lot more on my plate. I\u2019m also thinking about- I didn\u2019t tell you this but last night on was on that SWU Student Activities thing for trivia night, and next year I\u2019ll be a senior and you\u2019ll be a junior. And so, I don\u2019t like the thought of me being a senior because it feels like I haven\u2019t been here that long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n J: Yeah, you just got here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: Yeah, so I\u2019m trying to figure out some way to stay at SWU for another year, not for school, but I\u2019ve thought about possibly going into an ARD position or something like that just to stay around that community for a little bit longer and so I can find my footing- and also try to help build up my podcast. But anyway, I sidetracked a little bit. I\u2019m thinking about building an intramural Quidditch team\u2026. People wanted it in the [Student Activities livestream] chat so I\u2019m thinking I may talk to some people and get a Quidditch club going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What has the extra time allowed you to do that you couldn\u2019t before?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n J: Well mainly working overtime, making a little bit more money. But also just enjoying my hobbies that I didn\u2019t get to do when I was at school because, like, working on the weekends and then school throughout the week, it was like I had no time. The only thing I could do was sleep. Yesterday I forged a little bit; I actually forge-welded two metals together which I had never done before, which I was super proud of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grayson: Oh, really?<\/p>\n\n\n\n James: Yeah, I did a sanmai construction billet. And then like working on- I\u2019m trying to start a YouTube channel for gaming. I got a whole bunch of clips together and I\u2019m actually motivated to start working on that and doing really well… So, I get to do that now and having free time I can go on Amazon and by stuff that I want, like this microphone stand that I wanted. For a really long time I was just- I was worried about not having enough money to save up for school. Just being able to enjoy the little things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: Oh yeah, definitely have more time to chill out and enjoy things. Like I said, you and I have very similar hobbies, so I\u2019ve just been catching up on movies and trying to plan out stuff for the future of the podcast. [I\u2019ve been able to] play more games and catch up on games that I haven\u2019t played. Like, I remember literally the week this thing happened I was in the middle of playing Uncharted 4<\/em>. I was only, like, a couple of chapters in, and that week I was like, \u201cWell I have all the time in the world now!\u201d So, I beat it in two days. I was like, \u201cMan, I miss that.\u201d I miss being able to beat a game in a day or two. With college, I couldn\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n J: Yeah, you saw I was playing Until Dawn<\/em>; I beat that in one night. I never got to play that game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n G: It\u2019s crazy, like, I think we at least have to appreciate that side of things. We always complain, like, \u201cOh, I\u2019m stressed. I don\u2019t have enough time to do this; I don\u2019t have enough time to do that.\u201d And now it\u2019s like, \u201cOkay, we have so much more time.\u201d And even though it sucks not being with people, we can at least appreciate, like, the good things about it, you know?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is this situation positive or negative, in your opinion? Or is it positive on some things, negative on some things?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n James: I think, overall, it\u2019s positive\u2026. Just like you said being alone, being able to accomplish things that you haven\u2019t been able to do before. And also, just to hang out with family- your close family. Like, even though my brothers are annoying, and they love walking into my room while I\u2019m trying to do a Zoom meeting…I miss being able to see them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grayson: Yeah, exactly. I felt like this semester I definitely didn\u2019t get to see my family as much. I felt like I was constantly apologizing like, \u201cI\u2019m sorry. I\u2019m going back to school.\u201d They\u2019re like, \u201cNo, go hang out with your friends- it\u2019s fine.\u201d And now I\u2019m like, you know, they were right\u2026 I think overall, it\u2019s a mixed bag of things\u2026.The weirdest thing is whenever that tornado hit my town or my neighborhood- just the entire area in general- it almost felt like coronavirus disappeared because everybody was in social contact with one another\u2026. Like there is a billboard… that was [completely] twisted. The Food Lion sign was knocked down. 7\/11 shut down for a day or two. There [were] just so many trees and [debris] that had fallen on peoples\u2019 houses and power was out. But it was also cool because, like, all the community had come together\u2026. I woke up the next day\u2026 I had just totally forgotten about quarantine and lockdown and everything. There\u2019s some good things about it, though, because, I mean, there was a plant that- Borgwarner- and it was completely ravaged and it was pretty much empty or [the side the tornado was] because of the quarantine so actually lot of people lived because of that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n How can we see Christ being shown throughout this virus? How is this virus bringing Christ forward? How can we show Christ to others during this time?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Grayson: I think we touched on it a little bit with the whole tornado situation\u2026 but I think how you can see God in this is how, first of all, we have a lot more time to engage with him\u2026 I\u2019m reading this book right now, and it\u2019s not blatantly a Christian book but there is some spiritual elements in it, and it\u2019s for one of my classes. It\u2019s called A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward An Undivided Life<\/em> and I\u2019m really enjoying that right now because it feels like it kind of gives you ways we can connect more with ourselves and especially just connect with God during this time. And it sucks because we can\u2019t really go to church or anything like that, but I was talking to one of my friends and he had gotten a tattoo of a blood moon\u2026. He was talking about it\u2026 and he was like, \u201cYeah, I\u2019ve been trying to look up a meaning for this whole blood moon. I didn\u2019t just want it to be a cool tattoo, I wanted it to have meaning.\u201d And he was saying how blood moons usually mean when something is wiped away whatever survives is important and integral to your life, you know? And its kind of tied into the whole pandemic thing. It\u2019s like this is kind of a season of God letting us know like, \u201cHey, there\u2019s a lot of things in your life right now and \u2026 what lives through that and is staying through that after all of this passes is what\u2019s important; and what doesn\u2019t then it\u2019s something that wasn\u2019t meant to be, you know? And that could be a hard truth for some people but\u2026 in some way [it\u2019s] a bit of a cleansing, which sounds kind of messed up when I put it that way but it is a way to like wipe away all of these things and get rid of unnecessary distractions and stuff. Now, like we both said, we have time to focus on the things we love to do and our schoolwork and our family; and those are really important. I think when life catches up with us when tend to put a lot of those things to the side and it negatively impacts us. Even though there are some things, like I miss my friends and relationships and hanging out with people dearly, I also feel like I\u2019ve become a much stronger person independently and I think that\u2019s definitely a way we can see God shine through this whole thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n James: Yeah and to touch on what you said with friends like some people might be stuck in toxic friendships and they had no way of getting out. This was their way to distance themselves. And some people might have been overwhelmed with schoolwork and been like, \u201cI can\u2019t do this. I\u2019m thinking about turning God away because I can\u2019t handle all this stuff at one time and be involved with God.\u201d Just like blessings in disguise; that plant being shut down and then the tornado coming through- things you wouldn\u2019t think would be important actually turn out to be. I guess when God is trying to tell us, \u201cI know your life is busy but here\u2019s a little shutdown period.\u201d And like you said with the blood moon, you see what\u2019s important. It\u2019s kind of like when over the summer I to counsel at [a] Table Rock camp, and it\u2019s like that whole week your whole focus is God. But then you go back to life and then it slowly fades away. You said with that blood moon, what gets washed away and you see what stays. It\u2019s kind of like all of that unnecessary stuff gets washed away and what\u2019s left is what you focus on so that might be better for most people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grayson: Yeah, I think it definitely ties into that question of, \u201cIs this positive or negative?\u201d and I think there\u2019s a lot more positive than we actually may realize. This interview was a discussion between, myself, Grayson Schrader, and my friend, James Wagher. Both of us are students and commuters at Southern Wesleyan University. We catch up and talk […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":5580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[344],"tags":[82,88,373],"class_list":["post-5576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-events","tag-conversations","tag-interviews","tag-swu-stories","clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5576"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5578,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5576\/revisions\/5578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"