Episode 08: ONE YEAR IN: COLLEGE IN QUARANTINE Emma Bowers | Alex Durham | Irene Pan
It is one year into the pandemic. Colleges closed their doors in March of 2020, and experiments with various learning platforms began. Students weighed their decisions about how, and where they would continue to learn.
Where are our students now?
How have their locations assisted, or inhibited their experiences?
What are the impacts, and unexpected lessons that they have learned?
We speak with 3 students who all have different stories.
Emma Bowers has had a nomadic experience. Alex Durham went home to live with family. Irene Pan is a Chinese international student, who decided to remain in the US, and study online.
EMMA BOWERS is a third-year student in the Architectural Design program at Stanford University. Her research focuses on the lifecycles and aging processes of existing building stock. An enthusiastic student of high-performance building, she received her Certified Passive House Consultant designation in 2018. She plans to get a master’s degree in structural engineering, and she hopes her future work will combine architecture, engineering, art history, and archaeology, to address some of the most pressing issues in today’s built environment.
ALEX DURHAM is a junior at Stanford University studying International Relations and Classics. Currently living in his hometown of Atlanta, GA, he is remotely taking classes, doing research on European state formation and writing satirical articles for the Stanford Flipside.
https://www.stanforddaily.com/author/alex-durham/
IRENE PAN is in the final year of the MFA Pratt Institute program in Interior Design, with an exhibition design background. She is interested in the interdisciplinary fusion of design, architecture, environmental psychology and virtual reality. She has a wide range of interests such as painting, piano, and hip-hop dance.
https://www.yiranpandadesign.com
TRANSCRIPT EXCERPT
Emma: “That was one thing that I was surprised to learn, that this place, that I thought of as being new and sterile, was actually a lot more rooted in history, and connected to the present moment, than I'd initially thought….So, when I realized that I was surrounded by frontline workers, in this place, it was so moving…it was especially striking, just thinking about all the people who were living in the same development that I was, just having these experiences, and making these sacrifices. That helped me to forge a little bit more of a connection to the place.”
Alex: “Predictability has perhaps been the biggest obstacle to me, to my friends, and I'm sure to college students all over….That’s going to leave a lasting impact….It almost feels detrimental to try and plan things, because everything's volatile. You don't know when you're going to be back on campus, when you're actually going to be able to travel, or when you're going to be able to do an internship.”
Irene: “The difference of the people who always stayed in one place, with the people who travelled to many countries; I thought that, when I'm born, I'm Shanghainese. And, when I travelled to other cities in China, I become Chinese. When I come out of my country, I become an international citizen. Now, I'm a human being.”