Nothing was normal when Jacob Baca arrived at the University of Colorado Boulder in the fall of 2020.
He wore a mask during move-in, he couldn’t eat in the dining hall and was limited to one or two visitors in his dorm room at a time.
“Getting here at first was a little bit eerie and kind of scary and uncertain, because we didn’t know what college was going to look like,” Baca said. “We didn’t know if we’d ever be able to see each other without a mask or really enjoy it like we hoped to.”
Many of the students graduating from CU Boulder on Thursday began their college experience during the height of the pandemic. They experienced college differently than any class before or after them, and many also missed out on high school graduation and prom.
“I’m very excited to be having my first real graduation,” said senior Jessica Valadez Fraire.
Valadez Fraire said there were no traditional welcome events to meet people when she was a freshman and being a commuter student made it ever harder.
“I would describe it as very difficult and isolating,” she said. “It was definitely an interesting time not having so many people on campus and having to follow a lot of safety guidelines and precautions.”
Nikki Bechtold didn’t enjoy a full in-person college experience until her junior year. She and her friends didn’t realize how different their experience was until they saw the incoming freshmen class two years later.
“I think we missed out on four full years of what people might think of as the college experience,” she said, adding, “It’s both love and sadness and feeling like I missed out but feeling like I got really cool things out of it because I made the best of it.”
Baca said the pandemic created a spectrum of experiences but broadly made it harder for people to meet and get to know each other naturally.
“I do think it made our class stronger overall and more resilient to change and ability to appreciate community and one another,” Baca said. “I also think it, for many people, made our class more thoughtful about what we wanted to do and whether college was worth it. I think it caused a lot of people to pause and stop to think about what they valued in life, who they valued, and so being able to move forward with greater clarity was definitely a benefit that we had.”
In a way, Baca said the pandemic brought students together. Upperclassmen knew what college was supposed to look like and extended extra care and support toward him during the pandemic.
“I think you could see the support we had for each other,” he said.
Valadez Fraire was excited when classes starting moving back in person in the second half of her sophomore year. Zoom classes felt like double the work trying to learn online and on her own. The transition was scary and a lot to navigate, but she said learning in person was much easier.
“It was exciting because I was ready to talk to people and socialize again,” she said, adding, “When we went back in person it felt a lot easier to be in college and do all my classwork.”
Despite the pandemic, Bechtold still made friends by going out of her way to reach out virtually. She also joined more clubs than she would’ve without the pandemic because she was yearning for human connection, something she’s grateful for.
“I think it made me more confident in reaching out virtually or going out of my way to establish friendships,” she said.
As Bechtold prepares to use her business degree in Arizona at a consulting job, she feels more confident in her ability to make connections with people in a place where she doesn’t know anyone.
“I think knowing that human connection is really important and knowing that I am confident enough to go out and make friends, I think those are the two main things that are coming out of the pandemic and from this experience,” Bechtold said.
Valadez Fraire has a job teaching elementary school in Denver after she graduates.
“I think (the pandemic) helped us understand the importance of connecting and being together,” she said, adding, “I think its made us have a lot of real conversations and be more open and honest about each other and being authentic to ourselves.”
Now, Baca said he appreciates the small things, more. There’s an added level of gratitude for everything he could do as time went on, like eating in the dining hall with friends.
“It would be fun to kind of relive freshman year,” Baca said. “I think there’s a level of spontaneity and freedom and just openness that we didn’t necessarily have. It would be fun to experience that, but I think we made the most of it with what we had and I wouldn’t change anything.”
Baca, an environmental engineering student, will start an 8-week water consulting internship program in Denver after his graduation. He said he is excited to graduate.
“It definitely feels right and natural … I definitely feel ready for the next step in my life,” Baca said. “I’m excited to celebrate that with my friends and family.”
