COVID-19 Through the Eyes of Three Seniors
The Class of 2020 is grappling with a unique strain of “senioritis” — once characterized by a dearth of motivation and an excess of partying, the affliction’s new mutation packs a different punch. This year’s seniors will complete their education online, sheltering from a world overwhelmed by COVID-19’s rampant transmission. On April 2, President Dennis Murray announced the indefinite postponement of graduation, and the future beyond the spring semester remains distinctly uncertain.
Instead of savoring final sunsets by the river and celebrating cherished milestones, seniors face what could be the worst job market since the 2007-2008 financial crisis and their college career’s harrowing finality, without the long-awaited ceremonious closure.
Julia Luff ‘20 from Portsmouth, N.H. said that she finds herself thinking, “‘this is just like a winter break. I’m going to go back and I’m going to play with my teammates. I’m going to be there.’”
From left, Kristina Ultimo, Julia Luff and Caroline Fiske are members of the Marist class of 2020. Instead of savoring final sunsets by the river and celebrating cherished milestones, seniors face what could be the worst job market since the 2007-2008 financial crisis and their college career’s harrowing finality, without the long-awaited ceremonious closure.
Luff and her peers Kristina Ultimo ‘20 and Caroline Fiske ‘20 shared their fears, disappointments and future plans with the Marist Circle.
“Marist is my happy place and the fact that I don’t get to come back in the fall and spend more time there...it really, really breaks my heart. I just wish that I did not take my time there for granted,” Fiske said. “Because as a freshman I thought, ‘I have all the time in the world’ but in reality, you don’t.”
A journalism major from Fairfield, CT, Fiske misses the face-to-face interaction in her classes. Her senior capping project has become complicated with online meetings with group members, and she said that the present situation has taken a toll on her motivation and mental health. To make matters worse, her uncle contracted the virus.
“I wake up every day in this horrible, horrible mood, and I just wish that this was all over,” Fiske said.
“Obviously, you have to look at the bigger implications — that this is a global issue, and so as much as you want something for yourself, you have to take a step back and realize how selfish you are being with your own wants for the greater good.”
For Luff, dashed dreams for her senior season on the Women’s Lacrosse team continue to weigh heavy on her mind. Like Luff, many young women on the team had been recruited when they were just 16 years old. After years of dedication to the program, Luff and her senior teammates had finally reached the top of the ladder, determined to lay everything out on the field for their senior season.
And they were well on their way. Fresh from two consecutive victories and ready for more, the team eagerly anticipated their Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference schedule. The 2020 season’s cancellation came before regular conference play, before senior night and before the team’s true potential could be fully realized.
“Personally, I felt like I didn’t get to necessarily play as much as I had hoped to throughout my college experience and my senior year was finally going to be that opportunity where I could play and almost be completely who I am on the field,” Luff said.
After the NCAA extended spring-sport student-athletes’ eligibility for a fifth year as a result of the cancellations, Luff considered pursuing a master’s degree in her field, fashion design. But she encountered an obstacle — Luff would have to continue her education at Marist to be eligible for a fifth-year in the NCAA. Because Marist lacks a graduate program for fashion design, Luff felt her hands were tied.
In addition to her abbreviated spring season, Luff mourns the anticlimactic end to her fashion design coursework and the annual Silver Needle Runway Show’s cancellation. She estimates that she spent $5000 on her senior collection, not to mention three years of dedicated work preparing for its debut.
“We were in the midst of fitting, sewing, using all the equipment. We pay a studio fee to use the Steel Plant and now people have been displaced, moved home. Some people don’t have sewing machines. Some people are doing plus sized or menswear, and they don’t have a way to even fit their clothing,” Luff said.
Like Luff, Ultimo studies fashion design and will have to wait to watch her collection grace the runway. Fashion became Ultimo’s raison d’etre when she was just eight years old, and she will be continuing her fashion studies at Istituto Marangoni’s London campus with a master’s degree in Contemporary Fashion Buying. Now quarantining in her home in East Rutherford, NJ, she works to adjust her schedule to meet her new reality, reserving a day for drawing, a day for sewing, etc.
In addition to her fashion studies, Ultimo’s music classes for her minor have similarly adapted to an online forum. For her vocal skills class, for instance, Ultimo submits recordings of her performances. Her private vocal instruction class, which usually culminates in a final presentation at the end of the semester, will invite family and friends to join a virtual concert.
Originally, Ultimo said she had received negative feedback from some regarding her choice to attend graduate school so quickly after graduation instead of garnering work experience first. But with an unpromising job market, Ultimo’s peers have encountered difficulty applying for positions.
Luff said that around the time COVID-19 cases in the U.S. started to heat up, she was actively communicating with four companies, three with a full-time position and one internship program. These positions have since ceased responding or completely cancelled their new positions. Fiske concurred, describing a distinct lack of available job opportunities.
As the U.S. enters its worst week of the COVID-19 pandemic to date, the silver linings seem even more elusive than before.
“Obviously, you have to look at the bigger implications — that this is a global issue, and so as much as you want something for yourself, you have to take a step back and realize how selfish you are being with your own wants for the greater good.”
Ultimo even posits a world where the fashion industry changes for the better, furthering fashion education’s continued evolution and encouraging designers to build strong online portfolios and brand themselves digitally.
“We’re going to have to reevaluate the supply chain and we’re going to have to reevaluate unethical labor, fast fashion,” Ultimo said.
“I think it’s about recognizing that this will change us, but never forgetting to look at the positive outcomes for this.”