Coming in as a freshman with no college experience is one thing but being an incoming freshman during a worldwide pandemic is another. Playing a sport (football) on top of that adds an extra factor. It's challenging for everyone but students who have to learn college level classes online makes it even more difficult. Most colleges are doing fully remote learning but at Hope College we are living on campus and have some in person and some online. Although it has some positive advantages to live on campus and have some in person classes it comes with having restrictions on a lot of things. Personally, I think that it is a waste of time, money, and freedom to come and have to live at Hope during this pandemic. 

It is a waste of time in my opinion. I have many friends that go to different colleges that are fully remote and do not make students live on campus or commute. This allows them to finish their class, homework, and studying while still being able to have the rest of the day to do what they please. Some of my friends are able to work and do all of their classes. That seems like a lot better use of time. It's disappointing that only one of my classes is in person but could easily be an online class yet I still have to be here and sit in my dorm for the majority of the day. 

We come here but are restricted from doing usual college things like hanging out in dorms other than our own, social gatherings (parties), and even just the ability to go on different floors in our dorm buildings. This seems more like we are brought here to follow the strict rules and pay our money. Speaking of money we pay a total of $10,940 for room and board without any financial aid applied. This is a large amount of money on top of our tuition to be told we aren't allowed to do most college things. Or that we will get in trouble and removed from school housing if we do.

One example is as a freshman on the football team I am trying to gain weight to become bigger and stronger. Due to covid guidelines we are no longer able to serve our own food and take what we want. We have it served to us in styrofoam boxes without really a say of how much we want. I have been told that we are allowed to ask for however much we want but I have had multiple times where I was told that I can't have anymore from cafeteria staff. Eating from the cafeterias at Hope I have actually lost weight from the time I arrived which is very discouraging. Another way this is shown is how we are written up for not wearing a mask in a building and that if you have a certain amount of write ups then you can be kicked out from living on campus. I fully agree and support wearing masks but have had a negative experience with a RA that made me start to question it. Me and a friend live on floor 3 of Kollen and decided to walk down hall 1 to wait for our friends that lived on that floor. We did not know that we weren't allowed to do that at the time and later a RA came up to us and proceeded to cuss us out and even removed her own mask. We were respectful to her the whole time and were still written up. This impacted my thoughts on the rules and consequences for breaking such rules very negatively. 

I know that there is a worldwide pandemic going around and I am all for being safe. I myself was sent home early because I tested positive. I don't think this would have happened to me or many other students who also tested positive if we didn't have to live at Hope. I don't have anything against Hope. I just don't agree with some of the choices and requirements. In a piece of writing we read in class called Against School by John Gatto he talks about how schools are no longer a place for students to flourish and develop but to suppress and restrict them from growing up into adults. I don't fully agree that this example goes with the extent to which Gatto's talking about but it does relate with the point that schools are not letting the students flourish.