by John Michael O'Leary
Like most seniors, Alicia Frederick ’20, finance, had long looked forward to graduation and the happy events surrounding it. She recalls with numb clarity the moment she learned her rites of passage were cancelled, as she waited outside the door of her professor’s office.
“It was a Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. when I got the email that Commencement was cancelled.” says Alicia. “I just started crying.”
The pity party didn’t drag her down for long. As Alicia says, she likes to “stay busy.” She kept with her studies and completed them online. “It seemed like professors tried to make things more accommodating.”
She also applied her energy to finding what she calls a “big girl” job. She had worked hard to get experience while in school. That, coupled with a job search on LinkedIn, helped open a door.
“I was in touch with a man at Evansville Teachers Federal Credit Union who had just gotten a promotion, and he told me about a new position they had created.”
Alicia applied and got the job, a wire and accounting specialist. She’s already hopeful for a promotion next year. In the meantime, she’s working toward an MBA and will sit for the CPA exam in November. And she’s still looking forward to walking across the stage and receiving her diploma—eventually. If it happens later rather than sooner, she says she’s okay with that.
“I guess the last few months have shown me I am resilient,” says Alicia “Before the pandemic, I didn’t know if I would be working or continuing my studies, but now I am full force in my job and school—it’s surprising to me.”
While some mourned the loss of celebration, others grappled with disruption of domicile.
“I was on Spring Break when I learned I had one week to vacate my campus residence,” says Thomas Engels, ’21, marketing. “My parents and I made the trip down (from Lebanon, Indiana), packed me up and I moved back home.”
Thomas was enrolled in five classes and completed them all online. During the first summer session he took two classes that he says he had “planned to take online anyway.” He also picked up a summer job at Old Navy. So far, the disruption of school-as-usual has not altered his plan for completing his bachelor’s degree a semester early in December 2021.
“Online is not my preferred method for learning,” says Thomas. “I really like the in-person, face-to-face interaction with other students and professors.”
This fall, his schedule gives him some of both; one class is online, one is a traditional classroom setting and three are hybrids with a mix of online and classroom instruction. He is uncertain about how he’ll feel as he adjusts to the new normal.
“Because I’m so far into my college journey, it will really be different not having those important upper-level classes in person,” says Thomas. “I also wonder about my campus job. I usually work in the special events department, and I’m not sure how that will be affected.”
Although disappointed by how the fates have turned, he says he understands completely why things must be as they are.
“My mom is a nurse, and some of her coworkers have had the (novel) coronavirus. It was kind of scary for a couple of weeks when we thought she might have been exposed, but it turns out the person she was in contact with was negative. I definitely believe in following guidelines for masks and social distancing.”
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Thomas Busche and Evan the Otter at Evansville’s Bosse Field during an Otters game in August 2019. |
“The pandemic shutdown was so unexpected, and it’s been a strange time for everyone,” says Thomas Busche ’21, accounting and professional services. “Even though we have electronic communication, I miss the human interaction. I pick up a lot more in the classroom than I do watching videos, so the switch was a little difficult for me, especially in accounting classes.
Besides managing a full class load during the Spring Semester, Busche was working an internship with local accounting firm BKD—in the crunch-time of tax season. He says the firm took safety measures to protect him and his fellow interns, moving them from one small room to distanced placement in an open space and eventually sending them home to work remotely.
“The firm was doing as much as it could under the circumstances,” says Busche. “We kept hearing a lot of different things about whether the tax deadlines would change ... the extensions made things a lot easier.”
Busche spent his summer hiatus working in a shaved ice business. He’ll resume classwork in the Fall Semester with 17 credit hours of study. “Going through a pandemic is not an experience I would wish on anyone but it has shown the adaptability of people.”