This March, April and May, college students across the country were all united by one unheard-of life experience: quarantine. Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, classes were moved online for students at Colorado Mesa University (CMU). During those months at home, many students picked up new hobbies or strengthened old ones.
Sophomore Giselle Becerra spent her quarantine time learning and playing music. She found that spending time on music was calming for her anxiety and that it helped her stay grounded during such uncertain times. Becerra learned both the guitar and the kalimba.
“I learned a couple of songs that interested me and songs I knew were relaxing,” Becerra said. “I also have this instrument called a Kalimba, which is also known as a thumb piano. It’s small and produces such a beautiful sound that’s soothing. I usually play it when I’m stressed or want to take a mental break.”
In addition to learning more music and picking up a new instrument, Becerra also spent a lot of time working as well as taking a stand for the Black Lives Matter movement and attending protests.
“This was a year of America finally waking up to a lot of injustices,” Becerra said.
Sophomore Kayli Sarbaugh utilized the quarantine months to strengthen her relationship with herself and improve her mental health. She took part in an online self-help class that helped her foster a stronger connection to her mind, body and soul. Sarbaugh said that quarantine was difficult at first because she’s an extrovert who enjoys spending time with people. But she said that quarantine not only helped her learn how to entertain herself, it also helped her learn how to be happy and comfortable on her own.
“I have anxiety, and [the class] was mostly for women with anxiety but it was also about discovering who you are and finding yourself,” Sarbaugh said.
The class involved using a journal to jot down feelings and thoughts to engage the mind, doing yoga and other physical activities to engage the body and engaging in meditation and other spiritual practices to enlighten the soul.
“It [was] a very holistic approach to mental health and just kind of finding out who you are,” Sarbaugh said. “Quarantine was a very good wake-up call to learn who I was and to put myself first because I’m always someone who puts other people’s needs first. So that was really helpful for me.”
Senior Dane Anger also picked up an unconventional hobby during his months during quarantine: he started making rings from spoons.
“[My friend] Jenna showed me a spoon that had a cool pattern and said it’d be cool if it could be bent into jewelry and I was like “oh, I’ll [make it] secretly and give it to her,” Anger said. “Turns out it was really relaxing and made me some [money.]”
Anger has been making spoon rings ever since, and many other people have ordered them from him.
2020 has been a year filled with unconventional experiences for many; a year filled with changes for all. But even amidst the difficulties and struggles of a global pandemic, students from CMU still managed to try and learn new things. That spirit of creativity and self-awareness seemed to be a theme this spring and summer and will likely spill over into this school year as new and returning Mavs experience another year of life on campus.
