With the COVID-19 pandemic, my sophomore year was interesting, to say the least. I became a mentor in an organization called “BLUEprint” and I also had just gotten an executive board position for “Dark Storm”, the step team that I’m on. Dark Storm is Penn State’s first and only step team which was established in 2017. I was also in it my Freshman year, and ended up meeting my closest friends, and it helped me stay active while doing something I enjoyed. BLUEprint is a peer-mentoring organization focused on helping first-year and change of campus students with their transitions to Penn State. I was a BLUEprint mentee as a first-year student, and my mentor really helped me acclimate to Penn State. I learned a lot about different resources on Campus and learned networking skills and leadership skills. I decided to become a mentor so I can give someone the same guidance that my mentor gave me. I found out that I got these positions in April/May, and I was being optimistic and hoped that we were for sure going to be in-person in the fall, but I was obviously wrong. The step team was basically inactive for the whole year because it is so hard to teach and learn steps on Zoom. BLUEprint was still active and our meetings and enrichment sessions were hybrid, so I was still able to go to in-person events and see most of my other members. Some of my favorite memories were seeing my BLUEprint members at in-person events because we would just laugh and have a good time every time we were together. I was in BLUEprint my freshman year as a mentee, but this was the first time I was a mentor, and the experience is similar but also so different. It taught me leadership skills, communication skills, and it taught me how to be more vulnerable. Helping my mentee with her transition to Penn State, and being a mentor for the first time is an experience that I’ll never forget.

Besides being an active member in BLUEprint, I was really focusing on my academics, because I was active in several organizations my freshman year that took up the majority of my week. I had no trouble balancing it all, but it was good to just relax in my dorm and work on my own time this year. I started journaling and utilizing my planner much more, improved my time-management skills, and improved my study habits. My hard work paid off because I also ended up getting on the dean’s list for the fall semester. There were a lot of positive things that came from my sophomore year now that I’m thinking about it. I also got closer to my friends here and at home. My two friends and I would hang out almost every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday because our schedules were basically the same. We would have lunch/dinner, have movie nights, game nights, study nights, etc. The amount of free time that we had definitely caused us to hang out more often and become closer in the fall.

One of our many game nights

Additionally, I would also be on group FaceTime with my friends at home for hours on end just having conversations about anything and everything. We also utilized NetflixParty very often and would have movie nights. My cousin and I actually watched multiple TV shows together literally three times a night, and my sister and I also watched a show together once a week, and we still do. Even without seeing my friends and family in person I still managed to become closer with them. The pandemic and online learning put me through some hardships but hanging out with and/or speaking with friends and family made my sophomore year even more enjoyable.