Item
Nate Schank Oral History, 05/13/2022
Media
Title (Dublin Core)
Nate Schank Oral History, 05/13/2022
Disclaimer (Dublin Core)
DISCLAIMER: This item may have been submitted in response to a school assignment prompt. See Linked Data.
Description (Dublin Core)
I asked the student about his experience at college during the pandemic
Recording Date (Dublin Core)
May 13, 2022
Creator (Dublin Core)
Corryn McPherson
Nate Schenk
Contributor (Dublin Core)
Corryn McPherson
Event Identifier (Dublin Core)
HIS459
Partner (Dublin Core)
University At Buffalo
Type (Dublin Core)
Oral History
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
English
Economy
English
Health & Wellness
English
Social Distance
English
Education--Universities
Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)
mental health
jobs
finances
online learning
zoom
family
challenge
mask
vaccine
Contributor's Tags (a true folksonomy) (Friend of a Friend)
COVID19
mental health
Linked Data (Dublin Core)
Curatorial Notes (Dublin Core)
Erika Groudle
Uploaded corrected transcript in word and pdf. Corrected media file order. Standardized location field data. Hid interviewer email. Added box with corrected transcript. Leaving private, no consent to be uploaded. EG 06/17/2022
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
05/13/2022
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
05/13/2022
06/17/2022
06/08/2023
Date Created (Dublin Core)
05/13/2022
Interviewer (Bibliographic Ontology)
Corryn McPherson
Interviewee (Bibliographic Ontology)
Nate Schenk
Location (Omeka Classic)
14228
Amherst
New York
United States of America
Format (Dublin Core)
Audio
Transcription (Omeka Classic)
Corryn McPherson 00:00
Would you like to remain anonymous?
Nate Schank 00:02
No.
Corryn McPherson 00:02
Can I have your first and last name?
Nate Schank 00:05
Nathan Schank.
Corryn McPherson 00:07
Male or female?
Nate Schank 00:08
Male.
Corryn McPherson 00:09
How old are you?
Nate Schank 00:10
20.
Corryn McPherson 00:11
What's your ethnicity?
Nate Schank 00:12
White.
Corryn McPherson 00:15
So how do you think COVID it affected you while you were in College?
Nate Schank 00:20
I think just from a learning perspective, going on Zoom was harder than most things, just
because it was a different way of teaching and it was a different way in which that you need
to keep up with your work and stuff like that at home when you're not really used to working
at home all that much on school work.
Corryn McPherson 00:40
Did Covid impact your grades negatively or positively?
Nate Schank 00:45
So the first semester was kind of negative. My grades dropped a little bit just because there's
a lot of stuff going on. But in future semesters, the next two, my grades got back up to where
they usually are just cause I got used to working at home.
Corryn McPherson 01:00
How did COVID affect your financial status? Were you working were you out of work?
Nate Schank 01:06
Yes. I lost my job because of COVID. So [Corryn speaks over to ask a question. Question is unintelligible.] No, I didn't.
Corryn McPherson 01:15
Oh okay, I’m sorry.
Nate Schank 01:17
It’s alright. So that, that was hard, but I guess it wasn't that bad because you couldn't go out and do anything. So, ehh, so.
Corryn McPherson 01:26
How did it impact your mental health when you lost your job and you weren't doing that
great?
Nate Schank 01:31
Yeah, it was a struggle there for a while just because we couldn't go outside, nothing to really
do and just things weren't great. So, yeah, it was more stressful for sure.
Corryn McPherson 01:44
Okay, so how did COVID impact your family? Like was there any negative effects? Did your family-Like did you end up getting COVID? Like, how did that go?
Nate Schank 01:54
Yeah. So none of my family got COVID, which was lucky, but it was weird because we do have
a close family, so not seeing each other was harder to do, but no one got sick, so we're lucky
in that regard.
Corryn McPherson 02:12
Would you say that you and your family took proper precautions or you're more skeptical of
it?
Nate Schank 02:18
Yeah, no, we took proper precautions because we just didn't want anybody to get sick.
Corryn McPherson 02:25
Even though this is like a little controversial, how did you feel about the vaccine mandate in
order for students to come back to school? Did you feel like it was justifiable do you feel like
it was unfair to certain students because of religious reasons?
Nate Schank 02:35
I thought it was justifiable just because it's a lot of kids in one room and you're kind of closed
off so you don't want to have a spreading event and then have a lot of kids die because of
that.
Corryn McPherson 02:46
Okay.
Nate Schank 02:46
But I do think that religious exemption should be taken into consideration because that has to
do with somebody's culture, not really anything they can do about it.
Corryn McPherson 02:57
Do you think UB [University at Buffalo] did their best with the social- Like did you think UB took the proper precautions and was fair about a lot of things?
Nate Schank 03:04
Yeah, I thought so. I mean, the mask- the masking and having the vaccine made you feel comfortable and I thought they did a good job doing that.
Corryn McPherson 03:16
Okay. So in all, do you think it was- Do you view UB in a positive or negative light when it comes to COVID and how they handle things and conducted themselves?
Nate Schank 03:25
Yeah, I look at it as positive because I think spring of, 2021, a lot of campuses went back and
then I had to go back to remote and kind of just stayed remote until vaccines could be more
readily available. So I feel like they did a good job planning that out.
Corryn McPherson 03:40
And would you say things are back to normal?
Nate Schank 03:43
As much as they can be after a pandemic? I think so, yeah.
Corryn McPherson 03:46
And do you think that UB’s prepared to handle it if it was to take place again?
Nate Schank 03:51
Yeah, definitely. I feel like everybody would make an easy transition back to online learning
even though nobody really wants to. I think it would be easier the second time around if it
needed to happen.
Corryn McPherson 04:01
Okay. Well, thank you.
Would you like to remain anonymous?
Nate Schank 00:02
No.
Corryn McPherson 00:02
Can I have your first and last name?
Nate Schank 00:05
Nathan Schank.
Corryn McPherson 00:07
Male or female?
Nate Schank 00:08
Male.
Corryn McPherson 00:09
How old are you?
Nate Schank 00:10
20.
Corryn McPherson 00:11
What's your ethnicity?
Nate Schank 00:12
White.
Corryn McPherson 00:15
So how do you think COVID it affected you while you were in College?
Nate Schank 00:20
I think just from a learning perspective, going on Zoom was harder than most things, just
because it was a different way of teaching and it was a different way in which that you need
to keep up with your work and stuff like that at home when you're not really used to working
at home all that much on school work.
Corryn McPherson 00:40
Did Covid impact your grades negatively or positively?
Nate Schank 00:45
So the first semester was kind of negative. My grades dropped a little bit just because there's
a lot of stuff going on. But in future semesters, the next two, my grades got back up to where
they usually are just cause I got used to working at home.
Corryn McPherson 01:00
How did COVID affect your financial status? Were you working were you out of work?
Nate Schank 01:06
Yes. I lost my job because of COVID. So [Corryn speaks over to ask a question. Question is unintelligible.] No, I didn't.
Corryn McPherson 01:15
Oh okay, I’m sorry.
Nate Schank 01:17
It’s alright. So that, that was hard, but I guess it wasn't that bad because you couldn't go out and do anything. So, ehh, so.
Corryn McPherson 01:26
How did it impact your mental health when you lost your job and you weren't doing that
great?
Nate Schank 01:31
Yeah, it was a struggle there for a while just because we couldn't go outside, nothing to really
do and just things weren't great. So, yeah, it was more stressful for sure.
Corryn McPherson 01:44
Okay, so how did COVID impact your family? Like was there any negative effects? Did your family-Like did you end up getting COVID? Like, how did that go?
Nate Schank 01:54
Yeah. So none of my family got COVID, which was lucky, but it was weird because we do have
a close family, so not seeing each other was harder to do, but no one got sick, so we're lucky
in that regard.
Corryn McPherson 02:12
Would you say that you and your family took proper precautions or you're more skeptical of
it?
Nate Schank 02:18
Yeah, no, we took proper precautions because we just didn't want anybody to get sick.
Corryn McPherson 02:25
Even though this is like a little controversial, how did you feel about the vaccine mandate in
order for students to come back to school? Did you feel like it was justifiable do you feel like
it was unfair to certain students because of religious reasons?
Nate Schank 02:35
I thought it was justifiable just because it's a lot of kids in one room and you're kind of closed
off so you don't want to have a spreading event and then have a lot of kids die because of
that.
Corryn McPherson 02:46
Okay.
Nate Schank 02:46
But I do think that religious exemption should be taken into consideration because that has to
do with somebody's culture, not really anything they can do about it.
Corryn McPherson 02:57
Do you think UB [University at Buffalo] did their best with the social- Like did you think UB took the proper precautions and was fair about a lot of things?
Nate Schank 03:04
Yeah, I thought so. I mean, the mask- the masking and having the vaccine made you feel comfortable and I thought they did a good job doing that.
Corryn McPherson 03:16
Okay. So in all, do you think it was- Do you view UB in a positive or negative light when it comes to COVID and how they handle things and conducted themselves?
Nate Schank 03:25
Yeah, I look at it as positive because I think spring of, 2021, a lot of campuses went back and
then I had to go back to remote and kind of just stayed remote until vaccines could be more
readily available. So I feel like they did a good job planning that out.
Corryn McPherson 03:40
And would you say things are back to normal?
Nate Schank 03:43
As much as they can be after a pandemic? I think so, yeah.
Corryn McPherson 03:46
And do you think that UB’s prepared to handle it if it was to take place again?
Nate Schank 03:51
Yeah, definitely. I feel like everybody would make an easy transition back to online learning
even though nobody really wants to. I think it would be easier the second time around if it
needed to happen.
Corryn McPherson 04:01
Okay. Well, thank you.
Item sets
This item was submitted on May 13, 2022 by [anonymous user] using the form “Upload” on the site “Oral Histories”: http://mail.covid-19archive.org/s/oralhistory
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