June 10, 2021
By Reina Lyne Pintang
Online classes have already brought so many challenges for students who continue their education amidst the pandemic. Aside from the country’s poor internet connection, issues on insufficient resources, lack of conducive learning environment, and unstable physical and mental health of students surfaced. But, it even got more difficult for these college students who contracted COVID-19 during one of their most overwhelming days in school. And despite threats of the disease, they chose to prioritize academics over health.
Samantha Danica Policarpio and Michaella Salud, currently in the second and third year respectively, are students at the University of the Philippines Baguio. Both of them are engaged in the field of social sciences. Since the beginning of online classes, they got stuck in the bulk of readings and papers required in their course. It was an everyday struggle to stay and perform well in their classes. However, things got even more complicated in April 2021, when they were also faced in a fight against the world’s common enemy today─ the coronavirus disease.
Even after the phase of fairy tales and bedtime stories, Samantha still sleeps with her parents. At their home in Caloocan City, she sleeps beside her parents while her two older sisters stay in a separate room. But things changed when her mom tested positive for COVID-19. Eventually, Samantha and one of her sisters were also infected. Even at the time that their family was faced with serious health risks, Samantha’s biggest worry remained to be her backlogs in school.
“May mga activities and readings ako na kailangang gawan ng reaction paper and discussion forums na naiwan ko nung may sakit na ako. Kaya ayun, biggest worry pa rin talaga 'yung acads, hindi 'yung fact na kailangan kong gumaling sa COVID,” Samantha said.
(There were lots of activities and readings that I had to accomplish when I got sick, that’s why my biggest worry then was my academic duties and not the fact that I need to recover from COVID).
On the other hand, Michaella became infected with the virus when she did grocery duties for their home at Quezon City. As an Authorized Person Outside Residence (APOR), she goes in and out of their house to buy food and other essentials for their family. Similar to Samantha, Michaella’s biggest concern while dealing with a serious danger to her health was her academic responsibilities.
“After I found out my (swab) result last April 28, I cried because I have deadlines (in school). I blamed myself for not taking care of my health. I am also worried for my family because they might contract the virus,” Michaella explained.
A student and patient at the same time
Being a student infected with the virus, Samantha and Michaella had to look out for their studies and well-being at the same time. However, with too many demands in school and health, they were not sure how to cope anymore.
For Samantha, her initial response when she got overwhelmed with all that was happening to her was flight. She denied all of her problems for a while and refused to communicate with other people.
“Either fight or flight lang naman kasi ‘yung response ng tao when it comes sa mga ganitong problema. For the past two to three weeks, syempre flight. Flight muna. Talagang shinutdown ko muna ‘yung connection ko sa lahat noon. Kahit mukhang lagi akong naka-online, pero wala talaga akong kinakausap noon,” she stated.
(People either fight or flight when they face problems like this. For the past two to three weeks, I chose flight. I shut down my connection with everyone during that time. Even though I was online most of the time, I did not really talk to anyone then.)
However, she made sure to inform her professors about her condition. She knows that she needs a break from everything, but she is also aware that she has to face it one way or another.
"Wala naman kasing choice since one month na lang ata bago mag-end ‘yung sem. So, alam mo ‘yun, gawin na lang lahat,” she added.
(I really do not have any other options since there is only a month left before the semester ends. So, I will just do everything.)
Meanwhile, Michaella decided to comfort herself by doing the things that could give her brief escape and short breaks.
“To be honest, I feel that I do not have much time to cope with everything that's going on. I rely on resting and anime to give me temporary relief,” she said.
"I have to accept the fact that I'm still behind my requirements and will struggle until the end of the sem. It was really hard for other people and I think that it is a failure of the education system that leads us to overburden and burn out students in this pandemic,” she added.
Furthermore, the two share the same hope to test negative the next time they undergo a swab test.
“Wala pa kasi kaming pera ngayon, pero, hopefully next week, makapag-swab na kami. Sana ayun, mag-negative na,” Samantha mentioned.
(We do not have a budget yet, but hopefully next week, we can finally take a swab test. I hope the results turn out negative.)
"As of now, I am waiting for my re-swab sched to fully focus on my acads once I am negative for COVID,” Michaella said. SYNC IN
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