From COVID to college, graduating seniors found their next step despite adjustments

This paid piece is sponsored by Bishop O’Gorman Catholic Schools.

For some new high school graduates, moving day might become the first time they’ve ever seen their new college campus.

A typical senior year includes college visits, scholarship interviews and visits from college advisors, but that all changed this school year, and students had to learn to adjust quickly.

“I [attended] countless webinars, online college visits, one-on-one Zoom calls with the engineering departments, Zoom calls with other students, and more,” said Ella Bender, a member of the O’Gorman High School class of 2021 who will be studying chemical engineering this fall.

She says thinking about choosing a college without actually seeing it in person was scary, but the different options colleges offered for prospective students helped give her a sense of the school’s identity.

O’Gorman High School counselor Kelly Jones says it was something that actually opened up more opportunities for students.

“[The changes] allowed students to participate while at school and allowed underclassmen, who typically wouldn’t attend events such as these, to take part. This also allowed students to interact with colleges that are geographically far away that they wouldn’t have been able to travel to in person,” Jones said.

But Bender added it was hard to replicate the feeling you get from being on a college campus by seeing the “virtual” one.

“I had all the logistics available, but I wasn’t able to get the vibes of the student body or see if I felt at home at the different universities. It was really difficult to find the place that was right for me, because I was thinking with my head and not my heart,” she said.

It was a similar experience for senior Abby Hericks who will be attending St. Louis University and studying forensic science this fall.

“I never got to see the inside of the buildings. I’m mostly worried about navigating my classes and finding the right halls and rooms. Also, I never got to see a dorm room in person, which is hard because I don’t have a feel for how much room I’ll have before I move in,” Hericks said. “It definitely made the selection harder because I didn’t know how comfortable I would feel on campus and I had no idea what the atmosphere was like.”

So how does a senior choose a school in the middle of a pandemic? For Bender, she ended up choosing the one school out of 10 that she was able to visit in person: The University of Nebraska Lincoln. But the “unknowns” of the pandemic ultimately helped her make her final decision.

“Even though I invested so much time into places like Georgia Tech or Clemson for webinars or Zooms, they had hefty price tags on them. There is no certainty in these times, so I did not want to pay tens of thousands of dollars to pay for an education that would be at my house. It wasn’t worth it to risk that much money in this rapidly changing world,” Bender said.

Overall, the virtual visits didn’t seem to deter O’Gorman seniors from looking far away for schools. They will be attending colleges in 21 different states across the nation, including the University of California, Georgetown University, Gonzaga University, and the University of Mississippi.

Jones said that preparing students for the next level of their schooling is a major priority for O’Gorman educators and staff. They want to make sure that they feel comfortable when entering post-secondary education, especially when it’s located far away.

“Most O’G students — 95 percent — attend college or technical school, so all classes that our students take are focused on preparing the students for college. Every senior has a one-on-one meeting early in the fall to discuss plans after high school. We then work with each student through the application process. Because so many of our students attend a post-secondary institution, it is part of our culture. Teachers, students, administrators and counselors are focused on all post-secondary options.”

As they head into the summer months, Bender and Hericks are looking forward to a return to some sort of “normalcy” this fall.

“I love getting to meet people and interact with everyone in person, so being in school with my classmates is something I am very excited about,” Hericks said.

“Even though everything won’t be completely normal, I am also very excited about moving towards our new normal. I hope in the first year of college that I can go to football games and meet new people in the dorms, both experiences that the freshmen last year were deprived of!”