COVID-19: How have Douglas students been affected?

From missed classes to missed weddings

By Craig Allan, Staff Writer

By Sunday, our usual Monday pitch meetings was switched to online only. By Monday, my class at New West was cancelled. I was walking over to the Coquitlam campus when the announcement came that all classes were to be moved online. The whiplash effect of this challenging COVID-19 situation has led to a fearful time—one of the most uneasy since the post 9/11 days. With Douglas resembling that of a slow Saturday, I went around Coquitlam campus to ask the few students that remained about what coronavirus had taken from them, and about how they felt during this period.

One of the more unfortunate stories was told by second-year psychology student Julie Oza. Not only did she have many out of province dance competitions in the coming summer that she had been training for since October, but she was also set to go on the field studies trip to Italy this summer. A trip of a lifetime and a chance to dance for glory dashed by the illness sweeping the globe. She said she was “pissed” but understood that it needed to be done.

An understanding nature was present in everyone I spoke to. Such as people like Sumeet Bhamra, a third-year student in child youth care counselling who was set on going to her cousin’s wedding a couple of months from now. The need to protect the vulnerable was also shown by those who had events cancelled that would have helped those in need. Lorenzo Leoncio, a first-year general studies student, had a fundraiser for a youth group cancelled due to the virus. He was sad that the fundraiser was cancelled but knew that looking out for the old and immune-deficient in our society is important right now.

While everyone certainly was understanding, that does not mean that everyone was happy. Since the college only announced that all classes were cancelled at 11:50 am, many students travelled from far away—and on transit—only to find out their classes were cancelled. In this category is Milica Dedodic, a third-year office administration student who travelled an hour and a half for her 12:30 pm class only find out that it was cancelled when she got there. The anger she felt at the late announcement was only doubled by the news that her “favourite person,” Bosnian and Herzegovina pop singer and cultural icon Zdravko Čolić, also had his concert cancelled (and rescheduled). As the day went on, and the campus became the empty vessel that it will likely be long time, I looked through my notes of all the responses I got from the winter 2020 semester. From all of my discussions with students on campus, it is clear that this student body is one that truly cares for the well-being of others.