Catherine McGuire, ’22

The Catalyst (TC): What do you think about the announcement to continue online distance learning until December?

Catherine McGuire (CM): I think it’s probably the best decision to make right now I think given all the COVID cases in the Bay Area it does make sense to push it back a little bit more.

TC: How are you doing with school, so academically, socially with your friends, or just like mentally?

CM: Academically this year, it’s actually been pretty laid back for me because I’ve had more time to work on assignments like on my own time. Socially, I definitely miss my friends a lot and I wish I could see them at school. Um, mentally, it’s definitely been kind of hard, being so like isolated and away from all my friends, but it’s okay.

TC: So has your class tried to…build community? Like any of your specific subjects or maybe about our Spartan class.

CM: Um, I think in my English [A.P. Language] class with Ms. Wadbrook. She’s done a really great job making sure that everyone is able to kind of like destress a little bit at the beginning of class and talk about how they’re feeling and take time to like catch up with everyone. Um, and then as a class I think like the individual girls [student council] have done a really good job, like reaching out and making sure that everyone is doing okay and just checking in with everyone.

TC: Do you feel comfortable coming to campus with others who might not be that careful with hand washing mask wearing, and just safety?

CM: I think it’s important for everyone to take proper precautions and realize that like, yeah, maybe coming to school and seeing your friends, maybe that’s not necessarily putting them in danger because they are young and…getting covid might not affect them that much, but everyone just needs to realize like everyone has, family, friends or relatives that are older and are at like higher risk. And I think as long as everyone was taking proper precautions and Notre Dame was making sure to check in with everyone and make sure that everyone’s doing the right things, I would feel comfortable coming back.

TC: Ok, last question. So how has working from home affected your home and work life, and maybe like separating the two?

CM: Yeah, it’s definitely been tough, trying to keep school and home life separate because it’s literally not separate [anymore] but, yeah I mean…for me at least, like I set aside a certain amount of time every day for homework and then once that time is over, I’m just completely done with it and I’m putting my like notebooks and binders away, and just kind of taking time to just be present at home.