4 Concordia students on life during the pandemic
We spoke to four Concordians about their coping strategies, lessons learned and hopes for the coming months.
Keroles Riad, BEng 13, MSc 16, INDI program doctoral candidate, Public Scholar and founding member, Waste Not, Want Not
Kristen Karlsen, political science undergraduate and student life coordinator, Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA)
Elena Sarsam, finance undergraduate and vice-president, external affairs, CASA Cares
Johnny El Hage, master’s candidate, Department of Education
How have you been affected by the pandemic?
Kristen: As the coordinator responsible for planning ASFA’s Freshman Orientation (Frosh) week for roughly 500 incoming students, I’ve had a different student experience during the pandemic than some. I’m planning ASFA’s first-ever virtual Frosh, which has been a crazy and extremely rewarding experience.
Johnny: It was a shock because everything stopped — my work, my research, the art collective I helped found. This period forced me into a deep reflection to re-evaluate how and where I dedicate my time. It made me realize that I needed to focus more on my thesis.
What’s been a key takeaway?
Elena: Over the years, I’ve put certain activities aside because I ‘didn’t have the time.’ Now that we’re stuck at home, I find myself no more likely to achieve these things than I was before. It’s not about having time, it’s about making time for what’s important — this has motivated me to be more proactive.
Keroles: That change, even radical change, is possible in a very short period of time. I hope that we can recognize that while this pandemic is a big crisis, the climate crisis is also happening concurrently and is super urgent. I hope that we, as a society, will recognize this and act with the same urgency we did for the pandemic.
If you could fast-forward one year, what would be an ideal outcome?
Elena: That we’ll have learned something from this. A year from now, I’ll still be a student and I think it would be great to see a mixture of in-person and online learning continuing at Concordia.
Johnny: Normally, when we’re in the midst of our university experience, we rarely have the opportunity to pause and evaluate. COVID, however, forced us to stop. It led me to highlight some new priorities. Fast-forward one year, I hope to give more attention to what I have a passion for while giving myself more care and attention.
Kristen: An ideal outcome for me would be that corporations, governments and public institutions not rush to reopen only to maintain profit margins and unjustly endanger lives in the process.
Keroles: First, hopefully I will have my PhD! Also, I’m very excited because at Waste Not, Want Not we’ve been working to create a spin-off company. We want to approach large organizations and try to replicate what we’ve done at Concordia. Hopefully, a year from now we’ll have a financially viable model that can operate city-wide. That’s where the real impact will be.