ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — For graduating Grade 12 students, the COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be a considerable nuisance, disrupting their final year of high school studies.
Luke Connors, who attends Gonzaga High School in St. John's, told The Telegram he anticipates having to play catch-up when he begins full-time studies at Memorial University in the fall.
"When I start to do other courses in September … I feel like I'm going to get a bit of backlash because I didn't finish those other (high school) courses that help you prepare for it," he said. "I feel like that's going to have a negative effect on me."
That said, he's pleased to have the opportunity to get a head start on his university studies earlier than expected. On Monday, the university announced its 10-week spring semester would allow 2020 high school graduates to register for select first-year course offerings. The semester runs June 4 to Aug. 12. Registration for the spring semester opened Tuesday.
“In these uncertain times, it’s important that we continue to find ways to support our students,” Vianne Timmons, MUN's president and vice-chancellor, stated in a news release issued Monday.
”This spring is an ideal time for new, first-year students to take a credit course and to get a head start on their university studies. To complement these credit courses, we will also roll out a suite of non-credit courses that will help new incoming students transition to university life and get set for success — expect more to come on that very soon.”
The 14 credit courses are being offered in business, humanities and social sciences, science, fine arts, human kinetics and recreation, music, social work, and science and the environment. As was the case through the remainder of the most recent winter semester, students will engage with professors through remote learning.
Connors, who intends to study engineering, registered for first-year courses in math and English.
"I was doing calculus at Gonzaga, but it got cut short," he said. "If I went to write ... the exam at the end of the year which determines whether you get credit for the course or not, I wouldn't have been able to get a good mark on it, because I missed half of the year. I'm taking that course again, since I've already learned half of it."
The first-year English course will be useful to take because he needs at least one English elective to get into the engineering program.
"It's definitely a great feature, being able to get on top of whatever you want to do early. It's awesome, honestly."
Tayedra Lamoureux is graduating from St. Kevin's High School in Goulds this year. She's going to take a first-year math course in the spring semester.
"I'm taking a math course just to get it over with and that'll definitely help with my workload going into September," said Lamoureux, who plans to study biology before moving into medicine.
With so much free time, Lamoureux said having a course to focus on for 10 weeks will be good for her. She does not expect to get a summer job during the COVID-19 pandemic. Connors, who recently received the Canada Emergency Student Benefit, is still sussing out what sort of work opportunities might be out there for him.
The end of the 2019-20 school year was strange for Lamoureux, who is also the student council president at her high school and was heavily involved in prom preparations.
"It all happened very quickly," she said. "One day it was a Friday, and we were all at school doing our usual Friday things. We left for a long weekend, and then all of a sudden it was, oh, my senior year of high school is over and that's it."
Lamoureux is pleased to get an early start on her university education and feels she will be extra prepared for the fall. Connors feels similarly.
"It's just something to transition from high school courses to university courses," he said. "If I get to prepare just doing a few in the summer compared to starting and doing all five at once (in the fall), it's definitely a benefit."
@CBNAndrew
