Nov 1, 2021 | Feature, Opinion |
By Sophia Turgeon, contributing writer.
Since March of 2020, COVID has impacted everybody at UMF drastically, including commuters. In fact, the effects of COVID have affected commuters very differently than it may have affected on-campus students.
After returning to campus in fall 2020, on-campus students had a lot of expectations including social distancing, wearing masks, sheltering in place, getting tested, and keeping social circles on campus small that consisted only of Farmington community members.
Commuters had guidelines that weren’t as strict, but may have suffered more in the grand scheme of things.
Tom Tubman, sophomore here at UMF, feels as though he hasn’t had the opportunity to build a community inside the UMF campus and feels detached as a whole. “It’s definitely made things a lot harder than I expected. Building a community has essentially been a non-starter since I live so far away from campus. Until this semester, I spent a majority of my time around campus hanging out in my car because my sister is immunocompromised,” Tubman said.
Luckily with COVID restrictions loosening up, Tubman has been feeling much safer. With that being said, Tubman’s 2021 fall semester has been a lot better than the previous semester. “Since so much of the campus population is vaccinated I feel much more comfortable being around on campus. I feel a lot more engrossed in my classes and overall have enjoyed college much more this year than I did last year,” Tubman said.
Morgan Rogers, junior at UMF, has had some similar experiences with commuting that Tubman had. “Between driving to campus for some classes, but not all, I’d say that there were some negative effects, mostly my connection and immersion in those classes,” Rogers said.
From a different standpoint, Rogers feels as though the COVID restrictions placed upon students this semester haven’t been as drastic, but is excited to be back in the classroom. “The restrictions haven’t been all that impactful, for me, apart from having in-person classes again. That has helped hold my interest and allowed for in depth studies while in class. An interesting side effect from the covid-restrictions was a better class experience when we had to limit the number of students in a class. That meant that a professor was able to have more thorough interactions with fewer students at a time,” Rogers noted.
Though UMF has handled the harsh reality of COVID to the best of their abilities, Tubman believes that the restrictions put on who is allowed to visit campus are not as flexible as he’d like. “I’ve got a few friends at Orono and they want to come visit UMF, but they haven’t been able to since they aren’t a UMF student,” Tubman said.
Rogers however, found that though the accommodations were understandable, he felt as though there should have been more communication on where commuters should go between classes while waiting. “I found that their accommodations were acceptable. However, one thing that I would have asked for was more clarity as to where commuting students could be when on campus but not in class. I didn’t know that we had a commuter lounge until part way through last semester,” Rogers said.
Hopefully as the school year progresses, restrictions will lessen and commuters will feel more welcome on campus.
Nov 1, 2021 | Feature, News, Opinion |
By Angie Tehuitzil Corral, Staff Writer.
Reward yourself. It’s not selfish, it’s necessary! We are already into the second half of the semester, giving time for the stress to build up. College students often put too much pressure on themselves, which prevents them from taking an interest in their mental and physical health. However, this can easily be fixed by including self-rewards to help students stay in complete control and provide appropriate incentives to finish work properly.
Gretchen Rubin is an author who has written several books about finding ways to live happier. One of her most popular books is “Better Than Before”, in which she emphasizes the importance of rewarding yourself. She states that “in the chaos of everyday life, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters, and [one] can use habits to make sure that [one’s] life reflects [their] values”.
Rubin asserts that many college students fall into this endless cycle of stress as they always focus on everything else and forget to care for the body and the mind.
Examples of reward methods that might stick:
Go outside. It’s mid-October, yet we are still experiencing sunny and beautiful Autumn days, which is uncommon for this time in Maine. So take advantage and appreciate it by going out and spending some time alone with nature. A quick walk to release the stress, going to the Sandy River, going on a hike, or getting a mat for some yoga outside are all good options.
Take some time to make a good homemade meal. Being in a time crunch, especially in college, means not always having time to fuel your body adequately, so many students will end up grabbing anything on the go. And let’s be honest. Ramen is not so good when eaten three times a day. So instead, prepare something tasteful and nourishing that will fill you up with energy for the day.
Take a nap; you’re staying up all night doing endless amounts of homework. So, after class, sprint back to your room and sleep! Now, this doesn’t have to be a five-hour nap, but simply getting 15 min is all you need for a quick recharge that will help you focus.
Self-rewards are not limited, and it’s all about what works for you. These are even some examples UMF students asserted they like to do:
“I like to meditate or blast out music” – Ali Phair.
“Sometimes, I’ll usually just go back home and enjoy drinking a cup of tea” -Sylvie Haslam.
“Take some time out of my day to go out with friends and shoot some hoops”- William Harryman.
Meanwhile, Professor Blossom, a psychology professor at UMF, stressed the importance of self-reward for college students as students typically take mental health for granted. “Self-reward is important so that we can take the time to notice our accomplishments and reinforce ourselves for persevering.” Blossom said.
Most students are always busy finishing their workload, and so students struggle to find time for themselves. But including self-rewards allows us to uplift our motivation to generate better outcomes, because you can’t expect so much from yourself without giving yourself anything.
So, next time you’re on the borderline of feeling stressed, take a deep breath and relieve it by starting to practice a self-rewarding method that works for you.
Nov 1, 2021 | Bite Me Beaver, Exclusive, Satire |
Dear Beaver, I really want to eat the mushrooms growing on campus. They look so tasty!!! But all of the mushroom guides say that it will kill me if I take one bite and I’ll bleed out because I’m a horrible forager and I deserve it. Help, – Mushroom Girl
Dear Mushroom Girl, I have good news! I saw in a movie once that poison only hurts you if you have too much of it. But that’s certainly not a good reason to have just a little bit of the forbidden fruit. Eventually your body will build up a tolerance to the poison and you’ll be able to have more and more mushroom! Or you’ll slowly die an agonizing death. One of the two. Either way, just remember that eating poisonous things only makes you a horrible forager if you are trying not to be poisoned! If you are trying to be poisoned then that makes you a great forager!
Dear Bite: My friends told me the moon was full a couple days ago so I went to peek, but when I went outside everything started to hurt and I got really dizzy. I think I might’ve fainted. I’m fine now, but I woke up at 6 a.m. in the swamp behind the FRC and none of my friends are speaking to me anymore. I thought I heard something about Animal Control? Why are they being so distant? — ONCE BITTEN
Dear Bitten, First of all, Don’t panic. We don’t really know what happened, which means that we have to treat this like the scientists that we are. First, get a nice friend that doesn’t mind being in the line of fire of science. Then, look at the moon again. Repeat this tactic until you manage to get a straight answer out of someone concerning what the heck is going on. I mean, it’s not like you have some horrible condition that will hurt loads of people until you figure that exact question out, right?
Dear Bite, Sometimes, like a mewling bird in the wild, I yearn for crumbs of sustenance from my mother’s vomit. However, I am not a young bird, yet rather a poor Beaver at UMF who simply desires the warm, intimate touch of a grilled cheese sandwich. Alas, the dining hall at this campus cannot provide even that much. The closest thing they have are these sandwich melts that are like a grilled cheese but with meat. Oh, woe is me! What am I to do? -Grilled Cheesy
Dear Cheesy, I sympathize with your plight. It actually boggles my small beaver mind that Sodexo is somehow incapable of making such a basic recipe. I could forgive them if this didn’t happen every time, or even if there was some kind of rotation schedule in play, but it seems that Sodexo have literally forgotten how to make grilled cheese the normal way. They just slap whatever meat they have on hand in the thing and call it a day. As for advice, the only way we win this is by showing Sodexo what they are taking from us. And by that I mean literally showing them by dressing up as a giant grilled cheese and protesting the thoughtless addition of meat products in an otherwise perfectly good sandwich. We march until Cheesy justice is fulfilled.
