Next week will be my first week of college. I'm very excited and nervous at the same time, just like anyone would be. But I have to work around an obstacle that past freshmen have not faced. I am beginning college during a major pandemic.

Of course this pandemic will bring change for everyone that is attending school, but freshmen have a disadvantage. Not only do we not know what to expect, but we can't get any advice because everything will be completely different for us.

Although this year will still have a lot of the traditional aspects of school- registering for classes, buying books, choosing majors- there will be a lot of additional situations that can create stress for someone who has never experienced college.

With the looming possibility of classes switching to an online format, the campus mask mandates, and non-traditionally structured classes, a lot of freshmen-myself included- are experiencing even more anxiety than expected. Not only will we be in a totally new situation, but we will have to learn to adapt additional situations.

Most school years are not started with the understanding that a student could potentially contract a virus and be forced to miss countless weeks of school to quarantine, and most school years have not begun with the amount of civil unrest that our country is currently experiencing.

This coming school year will surely be a challenge for everyone, but try to remember to have compassion on the preschoolers, kindergartens, new middle schoolers, high school freshmen, and college freshmen, because they are tasked with the challenge of adapting to a completely new environment that is constantly being changed.