Interview with Jordan Cooper, 12/07/2021

UW Oshkosh Campus Stories
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00:00:00

KR: This is Kennedy Rud interviewing Jordan Cooper on December 7 2021 for Campus COVID stories. Campus COVID stories is a collection of oral stories from students and staff at the University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Oshkosh about their experiences in the time of COVID. Thank you for sharing your stories with us. First, could you please pronounce your name and spell it out for us?

JC: Jordan Cooper, JORDAN COOPER

KR: For the purposes of obtaining a good audio recording, please tell us again who you are, your age, your major in school year in school.

JC: I'm Jordan Cooper. I'm 20. I'm a nursing major and I'm a junior this year.

KR: Awesome. Just to get started, we'd like to know a little bit about you. Where did you grow up?

Jordan Cooper

JC: I grew up in small town, little Hicksville Peshtigo, Wisconsin. So it's kind of right on the border of the up way and like the Northeast or inside of Wisconsin. It's like an hour and a half from Oshkosh.

00:01:00

KR: Okay, um, could you tell us a little bit about it?

JC: Well, fun fact, in 1871, our entire town burned down. So yeah, we were the biggest fire in the nation but it happened the same day as the Chicago Fire so nobody really knows about it because obviously little small Hickville versus Chicago. We live right on a river. So the Peshtigo river runs right through the middle of town, which is cool. My graduating class was I think 93 so we're not like the smallest small town but pretty little. Yeah, it's kind of just like your small town vibe. I mean, in the summer, everyone's like out swimming in the river somewhere, having a bonfire somewhere. A lot of fishing on the river, kayaking, fun stuff like that.

KR: Cool and then can you tell us about your parents and what they do?

JC: Yeah. So it's kind of funny, both my parents and I all are in the medical 00:02:00field and we all actually work the same day to day job together. My mom is a nurse. She started in she started in the ICU way back in the day, and she actually came from Canada. So she got she lived in New Brunswick, went to school, got her nursing degree there and then decided to come travel in the States so she came from Canada, she always tells me with $20 in a small suitcase and went to Texas, started in Texas. She kind of traveled all over working in the ICU and then she took a travel assignment in Marshfield, Wisconsin, which is where my dad was working full time as an RN still. So they met there and kind of the whole, like traveling nurses fell in love story and then they lived together in Minneapolis and my dad went back to go to nurse anesthesia school. So now, my 00:03:00dad's a nurse anesthetist, my mom kind of jumped from ICU. She worked cath lab for a long time and got specialized to do like deep sedation and all that fun cath lab stuff and now, we all work in an outpatient surgery center in Marinette, Wisconsin, which is like 10 minutes from Peshtigo. We have a little outpatient surgery center there. So my mom works RN, like Peri op, post op, all that stuff and then my dad works in surgery doing anesthesia.

KR: Super cool and then when you started to think about going to college, was it always a given in your house?

JC: Oh, absolutely. My parents, like firmly believed that an education is the basis of building your life.

KR: Okay and then why did you choose to go to UW Oshkosh?

JC: I was actually really torn between Oshkosh and Madison and I was I was so dead set that like I had gotten into Oshkosh right away and then I was deferred for Madison, the first time I applied, but then they actually called me on my 00:04:00birthday, my 18th birthday to tell me that they had a spot for me. But, I had already kind of started to commit to the process of going to Oshkosh with full intention of like coming here for a year and then transferring. But, I started here knowing that like as a backup plan, Oshkosh also has a really good nursing program next to Madison so that's kind of why I started here and then I don't know I kind of fell in love with the fact that I could wake up 10 minutes before I had to be at a class and still make it on time, which was not the case at UW so that was big, I'm not a morning person. Oh, yeah, I joined a sorority too. That was kind of a big thing. I really like that kind of kept me here so I'm an Alpha Z Delta. I joined actually last year during COVID because I was going absolutely insane by myself in my room so but that's kind of why the nursing from and then I ended up kind of falling in love with everything else around it.

00:05:00

5:05

Cool.And then can you tell us a little about a little bit about your campus life pre COVID?

JC: pre COVID Wow, bad time I kind of like actually shut that out of my brain, I kind of was probably like, one of like the best, you know, I was really good kid in high school, I didn't really do much and then kind of came and had no parents to tell me no, like, no, like, no curfew, no nothing. So I kind of took advantage of that a little bit and maybe didn't have my priorities very straight. I felt like for the first time in my life was on the border of failing a class actually like three of my classes so that was all of a sudden, like a reality check that I kind of had to straighten things out a bit and then it just kind of kept going downhill and I never failed a class yet. So that's good. But 00:06:00I definitely my life was not where I wanted it to be. I was I think like the heaviest I'd ever been, like, I kind of just came to school and had no discipline for myself and would just eat like whatever and whenever and didn't go to all my classes and like, is just not good. Not good time in my life.

KR: Okay, and we're gonna move to the early days of COVID Oshkosh. So at the beginning of spring semester, 2020, where were you in your college career?

JC: Spring 2020. I was at the semester before applying for nursing school so I was kind of wrapping up those like pre nursing, like the classes, you need prerequisite classes for the program so I was doing Chem 106 bio 105 I had an anthropology class and I had like a online nursing class, I think.

KR: Okay, cool. And then what was your living situation?

JC: I was with my second roommate at the time so I had started the year with, 00:07:00like, a roommate that I had met on the Facebook page. She and I were very, like, not compatible, living with each other like, we just live very different lifestyles so I ended up moving out of her room and into an with another roommate, again, like just very, very different lifestyles. But that's where I was,

KR: okay,

JC: I think just kind of going day to day, I was not good then so just kind of going day to day.

KR: And then when you first remember hearing about COVID Like, what when was that time?

JC: Um, this is actually kind of funny, because I remember being in a in my bio, 105 class, and I had Dr. Todd Kostmann and I loved that guy. He was such a fun professor and the way that he talked you would think this man like knows everything like he's talking down to a college level course but he like there's 00:08:00nothing he didn't know. So everything he said, I was like, oh, yeah, like, that's right has to be right and he said, like, this was still when it was on the news and like, oh, we had a case in the US and all of a sudden there was five new cases and then when it started getting around here, I remember him saying he's like, they're not gonna shut down anything. He's like, there's no way they would never do that, we're never going to get to that point, like, everybody's just draumatizing it like, this is all gonna go away, and it's gonna be fine. That was March of 2020 and now, we're almost to 2022 and it's still COVID. So I just kind of laughed thinking about that, because, like, Well, glad that wasn't an exam question, because I would have gotten it wrong.

KR: It's crazy to think about that. And what was your initial reaction to the news about COVID?

JC: Initially, I was really sad because like, even though I wasn't at a good 00:09:00time in my life, I wasn't at the point where I realized that I wasn't good yet so I was just looking as at it at like, I'm so sad like, I'm leaving all my friends like I'm having the time on my life right now and now I have to go home and do stuff online. I was really frustrated about having to do chemistry online because that is not one of my better classes so having to like self teach that and he never posted lectures from himself he just kind of gave us video links to other lectures, which didn't always correlate so I don't know like I just got really frustrated having to go home because I wasn't ready to be at home yet. I missed all my friends.

KR: Yeah, so talking a little bit more about when you did get like the email to be sent home. Can you describe like that situation what like was going through your mind? How did you like say goodbye to these people not knowing when you'd be back and all that kind of stuff?

JC: Yeah, so a lot of tears. I thought I was like leaving the best friends I'd ever made, which they're still friends, but like, I tend to think every friend I 00:10:00make is like the best friend I've ever made so, at that time in my life, I was really bummed about it. We, I don't know, we kind of just started spending, like every waking moment together, knowing that we were gonna have to leave in the next couple of days. And then I got home and it wasn't until I was moved home and at home, like with my mom, and the like background about my mom, she is very, like, that woman could everybody could die tomorrow, and she would be like completely fine and taking care of herself and doing like she's very, very independent and both my parents taught me like that I need to be that way. And she's very, like fitness oriented, and like, take care of yourself, and you got to love yourself before you ever can love anybody else type of thing. So like, it wasn't until I got home and started like being around her that I realized, like how much I hated the person I turned into, and I gained so much weight going to college. So, like COVID was a bad time, but it was kind of like the 00:11:00what's the word like the

KR: reality check almost

JC: the reality check with the intervention, yeah, that I needed to kind of get my life back on track so that summer over COVID was probably one of the best summers of my life because I like I went home and didn't want to get out of bed, like didn't want to look in the mirror was not happy with myself at all. But my mom kind of pushed me to be like, No, you need to get out of bed every day. Like, let's go walk the dog, let's go do that first and we would take the dog for like a three mile walk and then later in the day, she'd be like, Oh, come help me like garden, this, like weed this garden and to me, I was like, just think in my head. Like, she's just asking me to help her do stuff. But then after a while, I started realizing that, like, I was starting to lose a little bit of weight and I was excited to get out of bed and like, Oh, what are we doing today? So she kind of without telling me, she was like, gonna pull me out of this hole. She she did and then we started to progress to like, oh, let's try 00:12:00and go for a run or let's go for rollerblade or let's go kayak five miles, which is not what I thought. I mean, that's a long, long way to kayak. But that was kind of in my family like I said, my mom and dad are both medical field. I have a 12 year old brother now is 10 at the time, I think and so he was all about like being with the neighbor friends and everything. So our family never really spent a lot of time together. But that summer of COVID you know, nobody's parents wanted their kids to be around your kids because no will COVID Blah, blah, blah. So we ended up spending a lot of time together that summer. So it was really nice for our family like we took a lot of little mini family vacations. But yeah, definitely first hearing about it was really, like really sad because I hadn't realized how far down the wrong road I had gotten myself into. But coming out of that summer was definitely like, I looked different. I felt different, like thought differently. So it was a good thing for me.

00:13:00

KR: Yeah. And you're kind of describing how, like things you did when you first got home from school. So how were the COVID protocols dealt with like in your hometown?

JC: So in Peshtigo, it took a long time, probably until the end of June, for COVID to hit our city. One person had gone on a vacation, and then come back. I think they went down south, I think they went to Florida and then they came back. They never had a prom, their senior year so some family had hosted out like a banquet hall and then the whole junior and senior class got together and had a prom and then that's actually how it got into my work was we had high school workers that were at the prom, and then all of a sudden, it was like wildfire all over again in our town of COVID and everybody had it. So then it started with like the small businesses, non essential businesses shutting 00:14:00down,masks everywhere. Kind of like the same. I don't know that so long ago, like I'm just so used to not like going into a store and so I'm gonna wear a mask and stuff. But that was the big thing and then a lot of it was like, even though we were insanely short staffed at work, like you don't come in if you have over 99 point, whatever temperature or if you have any symptoms like don't come. So that was definitely hard working through that.

KR: Yeah. And then being home and being around your family so much that like you were describing, were there any challenges being around them so much or like being in the house? Like could you leave when you needed to?

JC: Yeah, um, so I think meal planning was hard because everybody's used like everybody was used to like their own. Like, you come and go and you're here. We'll be here later like we're gonna eat at this time. But then, all of a 00:15:00sudden, like my whole family was home so usually like, I would make something for my brother and I at like, five, six o'clock, but then my parents wouldn't eat until like 9:30-10, which is insane. I don't know how anyone waits that late to eat dinner. So that was hard. My little brother definitely went through it through COVID, he kind of had struggled with some anxiety. Starting in like 2019, he went to my grandparents house in Canada with my mom and then for some reason, he had a nightmare thing in that like it was the last time he was ever going to see them and he like freaked out and he really struggled after that, like, because all my family's in Florida or Canada and outwest like were the only few people in Wisconsin. So he was struggling really bad with that and then when COVID hit that kind of just like, went tenfold, like that's all he thought about every day was like, Well, I'm never gonna see my family again, everybody's gonna die. So he really struggled with it. So we spent a lot of time trying to like, keep him busy, take him fishing, and do the things he loves to do. We 00:16:00actually ended up getting a dog through COVID, which was really exciting. Well, it was kind of traumatizing and then exciting, because we wanted a German Shorthaired Pointer. Like that was the only dog my dad was gonna get and it had to be a female. So already it was kind of like, well, okay, gotta look kind of hard. But um, and then we started looking into it and realize that, like, all the breeders in Wisconsin, were already booked, like two years out. So we were like, well, we kind of need this dog now. So we found a dog in summer in Wisconsin, I forget. And then we had the pig and we got the dog. And then she was born and then three days after she was born, we got a phone call that she died, and we didn't have a dog anymore. So all of a sudden, then we were like, well, oh my god, like start Googling, start calling anybody my mom was at the point she's like, I will drive across the country to get this dog like it's a three days trip, like, Okay, I'll do it. So then we were like looking at a 00:17:00state. We found a breeder in North Dakota, and got a dog, and we ended up getting her like a month earlier than we were expecting to. So that's our little Mabel Joe. So we love her. She has been a huge help through COVID because all of a sudden, then it wasn't like, oh, like it's COVID when all of us were like, oh, what can we do with Mabel today? So that was a really big thing. But living in the same house got old after a while. I mean, me being I was 19 at the time. And I'd still had friends that were kind of like doing like having the bonfires on the weekend and going on after work like, well, I don't want to sit at home, like I want to go do that. But they were also kind of like you want to go do that and you could bring it into our house and you don't know, like, because my mom has some medical stuff. So we're just like, so that was kind of a hard balance of like, I didn't want to bring that in but I also didn't want to stay home all the time. But it wasn't as horrible as I thought it'd be.

00:18:00

KR: Okay. And then can you tell me about any jobs you had during obviously, you said that you're working now but during the time of COVID, specifically.

JC: So yeah, that was I was in the nursing home. We just had a I think it's like 100 No, maybe not, I don't know, maybe 100 bed facility in Peshtigo. Redness West was the nursing home I was at at the time and like I said we'd had I mean, it's still technically like undetermined where it came from. But we did have multiple high school workers that were at this event that came to work after that, and then it was there. So nobody's ever really said it out loud but it's kind of assumed that that's where it started. And then it just kind of broke out a little bit by a little bit. It started off with like two isolation rooms because we had two positive cases and then it turned into like a whole entire 00:19:00COVID unit. That was horrible because it was in the middle of the summer. We were constantly working on like AC units because they weren't consistent throughout the building. Now we were in like the horrible plastic gowns and 95 masks and the whole like, it was just the whole outfit. And I don't know, like every room that we went into, like to drop off dinner trays was the worst because there were like 30 rooms you would have to go to and you'd have to like gown up, do everything to bring a tray in, like pour their juice and then leave and then go do it in another room. So that was hard. That's just talking about like the skills part of the job. Emotionally. That was probably one of the worst things I'd ever experienced, especially at 19 years old to see so many people dying in like asking you to sit there and pray with them or hug them or like, just be there and you're like 19 years old, or like, I'm sitting in here with 00:20:00this person who's asking me to be with them when I die and it's like, most people have to go through that with the grandparent or two. But all of a sudden now it was like, I think we lost over 15 people through COVID and so I was working every day. So I wasn't always on that unit, but like, you know, who's down there and how they feel and how they think. So it was definitely hard to go through that and then lose people at the end of the day through it. But

KR: and then obviously, so your job was considered, like, essential at the time, and you had to put yourself on the line. Was that scary to you at all that maybe you could get COVID from that?

JC: Yeah, that was the first time ever, I think I had like rashes on my hands at the end of the day from like, using such hot water and hand sanitizer non stop, because I was more terrified to bring it home to my mom. She's got some weird condition where she apparently doesn't have any white cells, which she's a medical mystery, because she does have them she can fight off infections, but 00:21:00like when you draw her blood, and like labs and stuff that it like, looks like leuco or No, what's the word? Leukemia, so not good. So we just weren't sure how she would react to that. So that was my biggest fear. But I was probably the cleanest I'd ever been in my life at that point, because it was like non-stop all day, every day. I would like come home, take off all my stuff and put it in the washer. Like take the long route to get upstairs to the shower and like that'll be like the first thing I do when I get home. Then I would like go and like Lysol wipe everything I touched when I got home. So it's just, it was a long, long summer going through all that.

KR: And then shifting a little bit more to classes and like schoolwork when you were sent home. How did you deal with like the online transit transition, like doing projects and having finals at home and all that kind of stuff?

00:22:00

JC: Yeah, that was bad chemistry. That was horrible. Not a fan at all. I think a lot of my professors alluded to the fact before we left, that they were all kind of frustrated that budget cuts were happening and like salary cuts were happening. And so I don't know if it's for sure what happened, but it kind of just seemed like they just kind of dropped off and we're like, well, there's like two exams left. You guys can finish it online, we'll just kind of post whatever and go from there and I would like email my chemistry professor and it would he it was never an answer. It was always like, look in your book, Google it. Like, I don't know what to tell you. So I was just kind of like, okay, this really sucks. I had a tutor at the time but that that was pretty much what got me through chemistry because I that's just not a class I can teach myself. So not good. I hated the transition. Probably the longest part of the semester was being online at home.

KR: Yeah. And then what did you miss most about, like not being on campus?

00:23:00

JC: Um, probably probably like the independency of it. Being at home. There's my parents are very independent people. So like, if they need groceries, like they'll go grocery shopping. I, I thought that was so much fun, like getting food for myself and trying to like do stuff like that. Just kind of if somebody texted me was like, Hey, do you want to hang out? And then I'd be like, yep, let me just walk to your dorm. Like at home. My parents are always like, Well, where are you going? Like, are you taking our vehicle? When are you going to be home? Just like, well, I don't know, like, I just want to go and come back when I'm tired. So that was that was kind of hard. I missed that a lot.

KR: And then seeing that you are a nursing major. Did COVID ever make you want to like switch your major may make you debate like whether you were in the right position?

00:24:00

JC: Um, I think it actually solidified that I was in the right spot in my life. It's very gratifying hearing. I mean, of course, it's one thing to be at work and have a co-worker say, Oh, I think you do a great job. But then with COVID when family members would be there, and then like after a loved one would pass away, and sometimes they would write letters or like, give, you know, so to hear a couple different family members at times told me that like it made their day to see me and like what I was doing for their family member just makes me feel like okay, like I was doing what I need to be doing and if I can make a patient and family and my charge nurse all happy at the same time then like, I'm figuring it out. But yeah, it was I guess I did question it emotionally because 00:25:00I think that was the most times that ever gone home crying from work to my family and I think I did say a couple times, like I just don't know, emotionally if I could handle working in a place where people do die, and you just can't get away from it. But I mean, it's too gratifying. That's definitely a big downer of the job. But the parts that are good are just too good to say no, because of that.

KR: And then how were you affected by COVID? Or did you know anyone like in your family that had gotten it?

JC: Um, funny enough, I have both sets of grandparents, two sets of aunts and uncles on each side, multiple cousins, and my mom, my dad, little brother, and I, and I'm none, nobody in our family has gotten COVID to this day. So that's been good. Um, the only way I was really affected by it, you know, I'll take it 00:26:00back. I was just telling my mom the other day, I'm very thankful how minimally I was affected by it because I have friends that, like, my, one of my roommates was supposed to like, go and live a different life in Europe, that just didn't happen because of COVID and now she's had to, like change her whole life, which I can't imagine and like friends with hockey, that could have gone down a different route that got kind of just stuck, where, wherever it would work because of COVID. So I'm thankful that I didn't have anything going on that, like completely upend in my life, and like, changed the course of my life through COVID. But I definitely feel for the people that has, it has affected so bad.

KR: Okay, and now let's move on to the fall of 2020. When you learned that UW Oshkosh was returning to in person classes, what was your reaction?

JC: I was very excited. Because I was like, I get to come back. Like I get to be on my own again, I get to go grocery shopping for myself again. But then, I 00:27:00thought I was gonna have like, two I was supposed to have an in person class and in person lab. Yeah, telling stories for Fun and World Peace and all that jazz I was super excited for and then that was fun, because it was kind of like an ongoing project. Like you said, it's more of like, here's your assignment, Go do your work. If you need me, I'm here, like, come schedule meetings with me and grace and I probably met at least once a week, because I don't know, she just, it was so exciting to have a professor so invested in what I was doing and so at the beginning, I was like, okay, like, enough effort to get through the class, but then she would like, text me at 7:30 at night, can I call you, I need to I need to talk to you about this, there, this part of your story and I'm like, okay, and then she would call me with all these like, encouragement and different ways to like, critique it to do better. And then so I kind of the next 00:28:00time around, got in the mindset that I was like, Well, I'm going to make this one so good that she's got nothing to say about it. So then she kind of like reverse psychology to me into like, putting in the most effort into this class, which was actually really rewarding at the end of the semester, because then it was like, wow, I met so many people and got so many cool stories and then I was supposed to have a lab in person and that was all online and online labs are just weird. It's kind of like playing a game. But it all worked out.

KR: And then what was like the rest of campus like life like?

JC: Dead, like very minimal. Walk into the dorms was so quiet because I had a single room. I had one friend that ended up being right next door to me, like literally the next door down, which was kind of fun and he had a single room. So we would hang out a lot because it was just us and we were the only people we knew because a lot of our friends had stayed home. A lot of people stayed home, like going to get food in the dining hall. Like freshman year, Reeve at six 00:29:00o'clock was like, that's where you would go to like people watch or eat like everybody was there and then last year, it was just crazy. You'd walk there and there's like, maybe three people on two people are studying and you couldn't really I don't think you could eat in there at the time. But it was just yeah, it was very different coming back.

KR: So then did you find it like hard to be social almost since it was so dead?

JC: Yeah.Yeah. Like I said, I had my one friend next door, we hung out a decent amount of times. And then I had gotten a single room in Fletcher because of COVID. My parents are like, Well, if you want to go back like we want you in a single room, I was like alright, and then I had the opportunity to be the HA for Well, that was spring semester. I don't know we have to get into that. But yeah, definitely struggled to be social.

KR: And then what do you think like the biggest change was from spring to fall semester.

00:30:00

JC: Probably like it my entire lifestyle changed over the summer like I was just doing things I shouldn't have been doing. Like, oh my god we would just eat all the time like we would snack and then we'd go get dinner and then we would come home and make popcorn and then we'd eat ice cream. Like it was just horrible eating habit. So then I had more structure and like oh like I wanna watch what I'm taking in and I started to go to the gym a little bit more in the Spring and then like over the summer I would go to the gym and do stuff with my mom. So then in the fall I started going to the gym in Oshkosh a little bit more but I just struggled with that because I learned very fast that my mom was the one pushing me to workout all the time. So when she wasn't there I kinda I kinda fell off it a little bit but, you know, I don't know, it was all okay.

00:31:00

KR: And then now moving into 2021 Fall, how do you feel like the department and the faculty is doing with like hybrid approach now and having more classes in person? Do you feel like they're doing a good job with that?

JC: I do like that. I, I love being in-person. I can do it online, it just takes me longer because I'm like oh I watched 30 minutes of a lecture okay now I need a 2 hour break. So that was like, it just took me longer. But in person you gotta go to class. I hate missing class now because I did it so much freshman year and I just like it's very evident how fast you can fall behind in college. So I like pushing myself to be at every class and like take the notes. But I think they're doing okay with it. I think there is still a little bit of where like I'm unsure. I know people that have gotten COVID still and even though it's like the weird one case here and there on campus that they're like I can't be 00:32:00there to take my exam, I have COVID and then there's like there's no other option. Like I don't know, you need to find a different time to take your exam. I think that's kind of I think there should still be more online but not as much of an option more of like a plan B. Like okay well we can do this online for you but I don't know I'm glad more of it is back in person.

KR: And do you feel like it's getting back to normal or like what do you feel like the school would have to do to be finally back to like a normal school year?

JC: I think it's getting back to normal but it's also different for me to see because the only normal I knew was for like 4, 5, 6 months my freshman year and obviously like I said I was not in the right frame of mind too. That should not have been normal but I think I don't know how long masks are gonna last. But not 00:33:00seeing everybody wearing a mask would be nice, but also it's like necessary right now too so I get it. But being back in person is huge and like every time I've gone through Reeve there's a good amount of people in there, which is nice to see cause that was always like the hustle and bustle of campus. So seeing everybody walk through Reeve.

KR: And then also in this fall of 2021 vaccines were readily available on campus and what were your initial thoughts on the vaccine?

JC: I like, on campus or in general?

KR: Yeah, just either, either or

JC: I like that they offered them on campus because it was nice to see that like people didn't have to work to find somewhere to get the vaccine. I got it back in December 2020 was my first dose. I ended up getting it the first round of when they had it and then my second on and then I just got my booster a couple months ago. But i like the vaccine. I think there is a lot of misunderstanding 00:34:00about it because like there was a SARS virus in 2000-2001 and they've been doing research since then. So I just wish that there. Like I was that there was more of a clarification between like this is science, this is the research we've been doing and like politicians and like the president and all that stuff out of like advising about it. Because I, that's I think what causes such of a shift is when politics come into it. So I just wish that there was more like these are the actual facts that were proven in the scientific lab fpr people to look and base their decision off of but I think it's completely an open decision. I, I just hope people are making their decisions for the right reasons is all.

KR: And then what has overall like living and learning during the time of COVID 00:35:00taught you about yourself?

JC: A lot actually. I think I learned more about like how to take care of myself and how to love myself through it all than anything else. I was 217 pounds when I came home in March and I'm 100 and I think like 68-69 pounds right now. So that's over 50 pounds I lost through COVID and now I'm like I, that was such a traumatizing time of my life for me that I kinda learned that I will never, I'll never forget her but we're never going back there. So just like continuously working on myself and like going grocery shopping if I need different groceries than I bought last and trying to make like good meals for myself. Definitely like healthy coping with stress. School stresses me out a lot and if like if I don't get an A it's like the end of the world, nobody's ever gonna want me, I'm out a job. That's I don't know why I just can never get that out of my head. So 00:36:00figuring out a way to like be in school and like you're gonna have stress, everybodys gonna have stress, especially in nursing school. So finding a way to work through that, that was really big. Yeah

KR: Okay cool and do you anything else you'd like to add about your story?

JC: I don't think so

KR: Okay well thank you for sharing your stories with us. We appreciate your contribution to the campus COVID stories at UW Oshkosh.