Staying motivated for school during COVID and online classes…insight from college students

By: Angelina Salvador

A cute schedule- journal for September and the fall season. Credit: tumblr.com

Ever since COVID-19 started to have a significant impact on our lives, it’s been very draining to try and stay positive and focused on other things in our life. Now more than ever, students of all grades have been struggling from the transition from in-person schooling to online.

College students, like Jasmine Corujo, a senior at St. Francis, has found that motivation to take on the fall semester of struggling 2020. People like her have found solutions to staying motivated and positive for the synchronous/asynchronous school semester. 

Having faith in yourself is something that Corujo is big on. That is the most important thing in staying motivated for school now that it’s online. 

Life is all about going through obstacles and synchronous learning is just one of them that we have to overcome. But how exactly can we find that motivation to take on the new semester? 

We need to take a step back before diving into all the emails, Blackboard, or Canvas apps and start focusing on getting in the zone. 

Corujo mentioned that she likes to get creative with the way she gets motivated, which includes making a routine for the mornings. In doing so, she uses apps like Pinterest to get ideas and that spark of inspiration. 

Besides the routine of waking up early, getting coffee, and gathering the day’s material, the most important thing in getting and staying motivated is creating a schedule. 

College students should create a daily schedule that suits them because it will keep you organized and on track to take on the day. And with online school, it could be a lot easier to plan out your hours. Corujo explains that a schedule block is the best, and you can get help in creating one on schedulebuilder.org, or creating one with a journal and different colored pens!

Setting boundaries with yourself and how much work you can get done is also something to keep in mind as well. Especially with the stress of COVID-19, students need to reach out and voice the concerns they have during this time. 

Although it’s difficult to gain motivation or stick with it, it doesn’t need to take over the entirety of your life. And despite there being many negative effects to this current situation students are experiencing, reaching out to someone is another good start. 

Corujo also spoke about it, “If I’ve learned anything about online schooling, is that having a support system is one of the most important things! It was the best thing to come out of this situation.” 

Motivation all starts with putting effort into yourself. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to do it all alone, it means to get ready to take on the amount of school work you have for this Fall semester. You have to get organized and understand that it is okay to ask for help when struggling. 

And a reminder, it isn’t just you that is struggling with motivation and online school. Many students are going through similar situations. Start being optimistic about things, and look for opportunities that might come out of online learning!