Graduating Into COVID-19's World
College is not easy. Simply getting acceptable marks in class is hard enough.
Three months ago, Devynn Ritchie was just your average college senior. She had a schedule filled to the brim with clubs, classes, and work. And more than anything, she was anxiously counting down the days until she walked across the stage and accepted her degree.
But that was before COVID-19.
College is not easy. Simply getting acceptable marks in class is hard enough. Ritchie's experience is no different. She started her college career majoring in Biochemistry. For her first semester, she had her eyes set on being a forensic analyst or working for the Center for Disease Control.
But after failing chemistry twice and realizing she was generally unhappy with her major, she switched it up.
Ritchie followed the path almost every college student does, changing her major eight times in four years. Jumping around from Chemistry to Business Administration and everything in between, Ritchie finally landed on Apparel and Merchandising.
“It really felt like coming home, I just fit in there,” Ritchie said. After three long years of looking for a place to fit in within her university, she found it! And she couldn’t have been happier.
Reality of COVID-19 for Students
"[The Virus] was [in New York] when we were, we just didn't know it yet."
For the first time in her college career, Ritchie was enjoying her classes, actively participating in fashion and merchandising clubs, and most importantly she had a solid plan for her future.
Everything was planned out to a tee. Ritchie would walk in May to accept her degree, do an internship over the summer, officially graduate in August, and get a job.
She was on track to achieve her life-long dream of moving to New York City, where she would be working in merchandising, hopefully as a buyer or a product developer.
In February, life could not have been better. Ritchie interned with a high-end designer company, Badgley Mischka, during New York Fashion Week, visiting her dream city and getting hands-on work experience.
Little did she know that only three weeks later, New York City would be the epicenter of a global pandemic, and Time Square would be empty and abandoned.
COVID-19 quickly swept across the globe, changing life as we knew it in a matter of days.
“It’s creepy to think about,” Ritchie said. “[the virus] was [in New York] when we were, we just didn’t know it yet.”
College Seniors in COVID-19's World - "It's Heartbreaking"
"It doesn't matter if I'm talented if people can't afford to hire me when this is all over."
Right now, most college seniors are having to scramble and come up with new plans.
Ritchie had to push back her graduation ceremony from May to December. “I can’t do an internship this summer, I have to do it during the fall semester and let’s be honest, I may have to push it back farther than that.”
She is faced with the reality of postponing her internship, or even worse: canceling it all together and doing her college’s internship alternative courses instead.
“That would be a huge bummer because I wouldn’t get the real-world experience, I wouldn’t get any connections, and especially with Apparel and Merchandising, there’s only so much you can learn in a classroom and I feel like I’ve learned it two times already,” Ritchie said.
Suddenly, Ritchie doesn’t have a plan. She doesn’t know how she’ll fulfill the last few requirements needed for graduation, when she’ll graduate, or if there will be a job waiting for her when she does.
Her life-long dream of moving the New York has been put on hold. “Getting any job will be hard enough because of the financial impacts the virus has had,” Ritchie said.
The virus completely upturned her life, completely changing plans that were four years in the making, leaving her feeling hopeless and not excited for her future.
“I really thought the job market was good enough, and I was talented enough to get a job. But now it doesn’t matter if I’m talented if people can’t afford to hire me when this is all over,” Ritchie said.
She, and so many other graduating seniors, are left with the concerns of graduating into a recession. She has lost the luxury of pickiness and may have to settle for whoever will hire her, instead of following her dreams.
COVID-19 has impacted us all and resulted in an ugly mess of confusion and changed plans. Graduating seniors are really getting the short end of the stick. Ritchie, and countless others, have worked for several years towards graduation and getting a job.
Now, at the very end of their educational careers, they are dealing with the realities of the new world we’re living in, and the possible recession to follow.
And while this reality can be upsetting, it is still crucial that we do our parts in managing the pandemic by social distancing, staying at home, and listening to the experts.