Covid-19 Coronavirus: The impact on a first year University student

Ashleigh Stanners. Photo/ Supplied.

For first year Otago University student Ashleigh Stanners (18), her transition to university life has been put on hold.

Ashleigh had been on campus for five weeks, before rushing home to be with her family during the nation-wide lockdown.

Ashleigh is studying a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Genetics.

"This is three years of study but may be more depending whether I wish to further my degree. This can lead me into the medical field, animal studies and plant growth studies."

"I'm unsure which direction I want to specialise, which is why first year is good because you get to do all three."

She was staying at Arana College, a University of Otago Residential College before the lockdown meant she moved back home.

As Ashleigh puts it, her transition into University life has been put on hold .

"The move to the other end of the country was intense and took a while to resettle into a new routine while living with roughly 400 people. And just as we had all settled in a lot of us moved back home for the Covid-19 lockdown rather than staying in Dunedin."

Ashleigh attended Stratford High School and during her last year, receiving a number of scholarships to help with her tertiary education.

These included the Priscilla Sandys Wunsch Scholarship, the University of Otago Leader of Tomorrow Scholarship, the University of Otago Dux Scholarship, the Lithgow Scholarship, the NCEA Scholarship for Biology and a scholarship from the Taranaki Electricity Trust.

"It was amazing to be recognised by so many foundations and trusts which believed my efforts throughout high school were worthy of rewarding. These helped vastly with residential hall fees as well as purchasing text books."

Ashleigh is currently back in Eltham, where she is doing all of her study online. She says she is trying to stick to her university schedule as best as she can, in an attempt to keep her routine.

"I'm watching my lecturers either live-streamed or through pre-recorded videos and watching lab assessments online, and taking notes as I would if I was actually there."

She says it is hard transitioning to online classes but is thankful for the teaching staff who have made the transition slightly easier.

"The labs were practical and now we can only watch them but it's understandable why we cannot have in-person labs anymore. The teaching staff are more than accommodating and helpful during this big transition period.

"The university and our lecturers kept us as up to date as they could on what was occurring whilst they completely changed the outline of study."

Ashleigh booked flights on Sunday March 22, the day before it was announced the country would go into lockdown on March 25.

"It was stressful to be honest. Thankfully, I missed the mad rush of people trying to get flights out of Dunedin. But it did get intense being with a lot of people trying to get flights and they were sold out.

"It got a little hysterical but if you couldn't get home Arana was just as safe to be in."

She says the flights back home were strange to be on.

"You could tell everyone was stressed and nervous and there was no one sitting beside you on either flight (Dunedin to Wellington and Wellington to New Plymouth).

"The airports were ghostly in a way. A lot of people had masks and gloves and there were reminders through the speakers about social distancing and overseas travel."

She says she is glad to be home.

"Nothing is more comforting than being at home with your family, especially when something as serious as this is occurring. But it is a big re-adjustment from being surrounded by people constantly to being back home."

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website