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UofSC college senior John Rahal passes his time self-quarantining by listening to his roommate, Mitch Sepe, strum his guitar.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″ custom_padding=”2px|0px|37.9062px|0px” prev_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_margin=”10px|||” custom_padding=”0px|0px|18.9531px|0px”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”News Story” _builder_version=”4.4.3″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|” text_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” text_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” text_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” link_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” link_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” link_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” ul_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” ul_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” ul_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” ol_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” ol_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” ol_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” quote_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” quote_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” quote_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_2_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_2_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_2_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_3_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_3_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_3_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_4_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_4_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_4_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_5_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_5_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_5_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_6_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_6_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_6_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” box_shadow_horizontal_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_vertical_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_blur_tablet=”40px” box_shadow_spread_tablet=”0px” text_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”text_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ text_text_shadow_vertical_length=”text_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ text_text_shadow_blur_strength=”text_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ link_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”link_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ link_text_shadow_vertical_length=”link_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ link_text_shadow_blur_strength=”link_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ ul_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”ul_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ ul_text_shadow_vertical_length=”ul_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ ul_text_shadow_blur_strength=”ul_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ ol_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”ol_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ ol_text_shadow_vertical_length=”ol_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ ol_text_shadow_blur_strength=”ol_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ quote_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”quote_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ quote_text_shadow_vertical_length=”quote_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ quote_text_shadow_blur_strength=”quote_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”header_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_text_shadow_vertical_length=”header_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_text_shadow_blur_strength=”header_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_2_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”header_2_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_2_text_shadow_vertical_length=”header_2_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_2_text_shadow_blur_strength=”header_2_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_3_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”header_3_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_3_text_shadow_vertical_length=”header_3_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_3_text_shadow_blur_strength=”header_3_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_4_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”header_4_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_4_text_shadow_vertical_length=”header_4_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_4_text_shadow_blur_strength=”header_4_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_5_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”header_5_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_5_text_shadow_vertical_length=”header_5_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_5_text_shadow_blur_strength=”header_5_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_6_text_shadow_horizontal_length=”header_6_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_6_text_shadow_vertical_length=”header_6_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″ header_6_text_shadow_blur_strength=”header_6_text_shadow_style,%91object Object%93″]<\/p>\n
All seniors want college to end on\u00a0<\/span>his or her terms, but the class of 2020 won\u2019t get that chance. Graduations all around the country have been postponed or cancelled. College campuses lie hauntingly empty with plants blooming for a quiet, lonely spring.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Like all graduating seniors, John Rahal\u2019s classes were abruptly moved online in March. Rahal,<\/strong>\u00a0a\u00a0<\/strong>finance and marketing major at\u00a0<\/span>University of South Carolina,<\/strong>\u00a0had a job lined up in Greenville in June, but now he doesn\u2019t know exactly what his future holds. <\/span>His worry is heightened because\u00a0he also lost his job at a restaurant in Columbia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe job I had been offered got postponed a month,” Rahal, of Fort Mill,<\/strong>\u00a0<\/b>said. “I\u2019m concerned eventually I\u2019ll get a call saying, \u2018We don\u2019t need you anymore\u2019 because of this. I\u2019m scared I\u2019m going to get that call and what am I going to do then? I\u2019ve literally had a job since I was 12 years old.”<\/span><\/p>\n Over 1.3 million college students are graduating this year in the United States,\u00a0<\/span>according to the National Center for Education Statistics, a U.S. Department of Education institute that analyzes higher and secondary education data.\u00a0<\/b><\/span>They will be graduating into the worst economy since the housing market crash of 2008. Some experts even predict that the unemployment rate will eventually rise from 3.5 percent in February to 30 percent by June which would surpass the highest numbers from 2008.<\/p>\n Michael Duane, a fourth-year advertising major from Bedford, Massachusetts, remained at <\/span>home following spring break and can\u2019t work at his server job in Bedford that was always <\/span>his backup plan post-college.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI feel uncertain,” Duane said. “I don\u2019t qualify for unemployment and I\u2019m not getting the stimulus check and I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll have a job waiting for me when the place reopens.”<\/span><\/p>\n For others, it\u2019s the concern of putting other people at risk that\u2019s keeping them in Columbia away from their families.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Will\u00a0<\/span>Einfalt, a fourth-year hospitality and retail management major at\u00a0<\/span>UofSC, is concerned about seeing his mother who recently had surgery and may be at greater risk of coronavirus complications.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI still talk to my mom every other day, but it is different,” Einfalt said.\u00a0“<\/span>Even just the thought of going to see them and putting them at risk of something like this[COVID-19]. We could be totally fine and feel a mild cold, but we never know what we have unless we get tested.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Jacob Lagos, a fourth-year pitcher at Benedict College, flew home to Arizona to be with his family once the baseball season was cancelled\u00a0and classes moved online. Seeing people off was supposed to be how college ended for him \u2013 a final baseball game, a final goodbye to his teammates and friends, a final class, but not anymore.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI felt like I was robbed and cheated of my last semester. I lost my last baseball season. Three and a half years were so fun and I wanted to have my last two months. I felt like I really didn\u2019t get to say goodbye to people,\u201d\u00a0Lagos said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Physical wellbeing is the biggest fear in the coronavirus era, but mental health concerns are going to become increasingly more important as the quarantine drags\u00a0further into 2020.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Janet Hudson, certified life coach and founder of Tame the Inner Chaos, wrote in a Facebook post that seniors have to mourn the abrupt loss of their last semester and part of their personal identity as part of COVID-19 ending schools early. She said that college graduation is a publicly acknowledged milestone for Americans, and the loss of that experience needs to be acknowledged.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re a graduating college senior, know that recovery and restoration to joyful living will come in due time,\u201d Hudson said.<\/p>\n A structureless life has led to time feeling different for some.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI have no idea what day of the week it is. I can\u2019t believe that it\u2019s April. My perception of time is so warped; some days go by in three hours and some days feel like three days. It\u2019s definitely messing with my head a little bit,\u201d said Brett\u00a0<\/span>Leitchman, a fourth-year sports and entertainment management major at UofSC.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The loss of routine has some students feeling lost\u00a0<\/span>in the ether. Many seniors feel like school is done, so there is no point in continuing with a college workload.<\/p>\n \u201cI already had senioritis, and I was not really caring. Now it\u2019s super causal. I don\u2019t even feel like I\u2019m in college anymore, but I still have college work to finish,\u201d Rahal said.<\/p>\n Many seniors simply want to be given what they feel they\u2019ve already earned.<\/p>\n \u201cJust give us our degrees. Just shut it down. What if I catch the coronavirus? Am I expected to just come back for another semester? That\u2019s ridiculous, I already paid. It doesn\u2019t feel like college anymore, so why should I care?\u201d Duane said.<\/p>\n College seniors miss the routines they were used to, and many find it a lot harder to get work done now.<\/p>\n \u201cI miss the structure. I feel like my life is disorganized now. That makes my thoughts disorganized, so it\u2019s harder to do my work even though it feels like I have all this time to do it,\u201d said Emma Wagner, a fourth-year biology and environmental studies major at\u00a0<\/span>UofSC<\/span>. \u201cTime is so strange now because days feel really long, but weeks feel really short.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The class of 2020 will always be remembered as the people whose graduations got cancelled or postponed. Benedict College and\u00a0<\/span>UofSC have scheduled graduations for August, but that is just more uncertainty for seniors who thought they were graduating in May. Many seniors planned on moving away from Columbia after graduating in May, and most of their leases will be up come August.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know where I\u2019m going to be in August and if graduation is going to happen at all,” Wagner said. “Neither of my parents got to go to college and their goal was to see their first child walk across that stage and now I don\u2019t know if my mom will ever be able to see that.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 1″ src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/SeniorP1_CS.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” align_tablet=”center” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” _builder_version=”4.4.3″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” always_center_on_mobile=”on”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 1″ _builder_version=”4.4.3″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||” text_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” text_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” text_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” link_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” link_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” link_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” ul_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” ul_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” ul_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” ol_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” ol_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” ol_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” quote_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” quote_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” quote_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” 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Emma Wagner said taking care of her plants is one of the only routine things she gets to do during her quarantine.\u00a0<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 2″ src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/SeniorP3_CS.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” align_tablet=”center” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” _builder_version=”4.4.3″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” always_center_on_mobile=”on”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 2″ _builder_version=”4.4.3″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||” text_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” text_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” text_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” link_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” 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header_4_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_4_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_5_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_5_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_5_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_6_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_6_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_6_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” box_shadow_horizontal_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_vertical_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_blur_tablet=”40px” box_shadow_spread_tablet=”0px”]<\/p>\n For UofSC senior Brett Leichtman, being at home with his\u00a0parents means a lot of puzzles and board games. Of course cleaning supplies everywhere too.\u00a0<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”GRAPHIC” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Senior-graphic1.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” align_tablet=”center” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” _builder_version=”4.4.3″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” always_center_on_mobile=”on”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" College graduation should be a celebration for seniors who worked hard to get through school. 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