9 minute read
My Covid Era College Solution
My CovidCollege Solution Era
By Max Alexy ’19
In 2019, after Delbarton graduation, Max Alexy ’19 decided to attend Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He was excited to finally start college and be on his own. While the Covid pandemic disrupted everybody’s plans, college students were thrust into a unique situation. In this article, Max shares how he tried to regain control, and how his pandemic decisions have shaped his life ever since...
After graduating from Delbarton in 2019, I expected to have a normal college experience. I had no plans to deviate from the expected four years of college. Everyone in my class was on that path and I was no different. Looking back on my freshman year of college at Case Western Reserve in the fall of 2019, I couldn’t have asked for a better situation. My first semester I quickly formed a close group of friends. We would go to class, study, and grab meals together. I also joined a fraternity my first semester. Finding a group of upperclassmen who knew Cleveland and its opportunities was an invaluable resource. Between my friends and fraternity, I had an outlet to explore the city and have fun when I wasn’t occupied with my studies. Courses required intense studying, but having friends to struggle alongside made the process infinitely more bearable. By the end of the fall semester, I felt well established. I had a close group of friends, explored the city, and performed well academically. I was looking forward to the spring semester and the warm weather that accompanied it. The beginning of the spring semester went the same until we all left for spring break. In March of 2020, I received the news that CWRU had delayed our return to campus while I was in Florida visiting my grandparents. A two week delay eventually turned into the rest of the semester and we had to finish the semester with our classes entirely remote. Online courses were a hollow shell of their in-person versions. I would spend countless hours a day in my room watching recorded lectures, only leaving for meals and to use the bathroom. Being dragged through hours of videos and studying for online exams was mundane. The lack of personal connection and companionship of my friends exacerbated the monotony.
While the quality of the teaching and course value was severely wounded by remote learning, my university’s tuition did not account for this decrease in value. I could not just accept this and continue on with the original timeline of my college experience. I did not want to waste tens of thousands of dollars on ineffective online classes. By the end of the semester, I was determined to avoid as much remote learning as possible and I looked for backup plans in case my university continued online learning in the Fall. The remote half of the semester had shattered my motivation. I felt that I was wasting time and money, but I was tentative to stray from the four-year college timeline that I was implicitly assigned. As the semester neared its end, I needed to do something to get out of my house and create value out of my time. As soon as the spring semester ended, I registered for an EMT certification course which took place over the summer. Looking back on it, it was miraculous that I was able to find an in-person EMT course during the infancy of the Covid pandemic. Alongside my summer job as a lifeguard in Basking Ridge, I completed my course and received my NREMT certification. This course gave me direction during the lockdown phase of the pandemic. I was doing something of value and learning a lot. During a time where no one was in control, I was able to reclaim some of mine. Once I completed my certification, I was able to volunteer on my town’s First Aid Squad and get some experience as a practicing EMT. As the summer progressed, it became apparent that Covid was a long-term problem and classes would be online for at least the fall semester. I began to explore the different paths I could take with my gap year. Joining the military was always something I thought about doing, but things had never really lined up for me to take that path. I wanted to go directly into college after high school and then presumably move onto a job after that. The military just didn’t fit into that plan. But it was still something I felt drawn to. As I thought more about my options, I began to realize how the pandemic presented me with the perfect opportunity. If I didn’t take advantage of this situation, I knew I would later regret it. I still wanted to go to college and eventually on to med school, and the National Guard would allow me to continue with college after my training. I reached out to a National Guard recruiter to set up a meeting and learn about the process of enlisting. After a couple weeks of completing the required paperwork and requirements, I found myself sitting at a military processing station and enlisting. I was able to enlist as a combat medic, and received an immediate promotion due to my current NREMT certification. My contract started in the beginning of October 2020 and I was set to ship out to basic training in just over a month. To be completely honest, I didn’t know what to expect from basic. I’d seen videos of drill sergeants yelling at new trainees as they first arrived and various training exercises that occurred, but other than that I was going in blind. There wasn’t anyone in my immediate family who had joined, and other than a few distant family friends, I didn’t know anyone who had gone through basic training. I looked
into the process as much as I could on youtube, but I could only find snapshots of the typical highlights. I saw videos of new recruits going through the gas chamber, descending down the rappel tower, and completing various obstacle courses. I tried to prepare as best I could as my ship out date approached.
The day finally came and my parents dropped me off at the recruiting station, we said our goodbyes, and my recruiter and I drove to a processing center in New York City. Eventually I was on a plane to Ft. Jackson, South Carolina. Pre-pandemic, Army basic training lasted about 10 weeks, however due to covid, my cycle had an additional 3 weeks of quarantine. During the pandemic basic training was split up into 4 phases: yellow, red, white, and blue. Throughout basic training, drill sergeants break you down in order to then instill the habits and discipline required to be a good soldier. With each phase, you are one step closer to earning your beret and becoming a soldier. After a final multiday field exercise, my battalion graduated and everyone moved onto their job training.
My AIT (Advanced Individual Training) occurred at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX. During AIT you learn your job specific skills. AIT is more knowledge and technically based than the shock and awe of basic training. For combat medics, AIT is normally around 16 weeks split into two phases. During the first phase trainees complete their NREMT certification, and during the second you learn and practice the Army’s trauma heavy curriculum. Because I already had my NREMT coming in, I was able to skip right to the second phase of AIT. During this phase we were taught how to treat an immense range of traumatic battlefield injuries. From starting IV’s, controlling massive hemorrhaging, and many things in between, I received weeks of hands-on training with state-of-the-art training aids and a wealth of resources. Learning and performing these skills under pressure week after week was some of the best instruction I’ve ever received. After a culminating weeklong field exercise, I graduated from AIT and returned home at the end of May 2021. In total, I was in training from November 2020 until May 2021.
Returning home and preparing for the upcoming school year was an unexpected challenge. In addition to decompressing after months of highly restrictive training, there were difficulties in returning to school. My close group of friends would no longer be in any of my classes and many of the upperclassmen in my fraternity had graduated. I felt like an outsider returning to college. Readjusting to the stressors of college surprised me. I assumed that the high intensity of my training would make college seem like a breeze. To the contrary, I found that the rigor my courses required induced a completely different form of stress compared to the type I experienced during my training. Along with my monthly drill weekends, I became a student instructor for freshman general chemistry. The added responsibilities and re-acclimation were straining, but by the end of the Fall 2021 semester I felt acclimated to college life.
As the fall semester ended, the Omicron strain of Covid had reached
its peak. I was notified that my unit was activated the night before I was going to drive home for the holidays. As a medic, my team was assigned to hospitals throughout Ohio. We were embedded into hard hit emergency departments and were tasked to assist within the scope of our training. I was activated from December to March and had been sent to two hospitals in Cleveland and one in Cincinnati.
Once my activation had ended, I took summer classes at CWRU in order to catch up on some of the courses I missed due to my activation. This year, I started my junior year at CWRU and am preparing to take the MCAT and apply to med schools. Looking back, it is astonishing how my experiences have shaped me. Going through college, everyone is striving to find ways to make their mark on the world. With my activation and experiences, I feel like a part of something much bigger than me. On an individual level. one person can only do so much, but as a piece of a larger mechanism, one person can make a massive impact. The responsibility and preparation that comes with my job requires me to hold myself accountable. In addition to being a college student, I have the duty to maintain my medical competency, physical health, and ability to activate on a short notice. Having a sense of purpose has given me the freedom to strive for much more than just trying to find my place in the world. I’m not just trying to make an impact, I am trying to maximize my impact on my community, state, and country. Out of everything I have gained from my experience, the most valuable asset I have acquired is the sense of being an important part of something colossally more significant than myself. Nobody can take this away from me. This purpose has become the foundation of motivation to finish college and move onto the next step of my journey.
Max and members of his fraternity after a fraternity event.
