By Sierra Hubbard

Granite State News Collaborative

When Isabella Arms left the University of New Hampshire for spring break in mid-March, she fully expected to return, along with the rest of her classmates. 

Now the college senior is wrapping up her studies in isolation, home alone on Long Island while her father stays in New York City working an essential job.

“It kind of feels like a time warp,” she said. “It feels like I haven’t been back at school for years, but at the same time feels like it was yesterday.”

Gov. Chris Sununu declared a state of emergency the day she traveled to New York, and during the first few days of her spring break, public K-12 schools were moved online and eateries were restricted to take-out and delivery. 

Arms and other seniors across the state are finishing their college career remotely, with all pomp and circumstance postponed. Meanwhile, the future is suddenly shrouded in uncertainty: All pre-pandemic indications were that this class of seniors would graduate into a strong job market, but companies continue to close and cut back as the quarantine carries on.

Looking back 30 years, New Hampshire’s previous record for new unemployment claims filed in one week was just under 5,000, in December 2001, according to federal data. For initial claims filed in a year, the record is 106,037 claims in 2009. 

Between March 15 and March 28, N.H. Employment Security received more than 60,000 initial claims for unemployment.

Career services departments at colleges say most seniors seem focused on their classes and surviving quarantine — the job search is typically pushed off until after graduation, and that doesn’t seem to have changed in the face of COVID-19.

But college advisers are encouraging students to use this forced downtime effectively by networking online, bolstering LinkedIn profiles, brushing up on skills to boost resumes, researching the job market, and participating in remote workshops. 

Above all, though, these departments are also highlighting the importance of self-care during these unusual times.

Majoring in political science and Italian studies, Arms’ post-college plans are now plagued with questions, as are those of most seniors. She’s scheduled to depart for Madagascar in September, kicking off a two-year stint with the Peace Corps, but the organization evacuated all of its volunteers from overseas posts March 15. 

She doesn’t know yet if there will be a delay in her service. In the meantime, Arms is approaching her fifth week quarantined alone, which she called a new, “ungrounding” experience.

“There’s a lack of motivation, and I think this is a commonly shared feeling among my peers,” she said, referring to a lack of enthusiasm for school assignments. “... This is such a collective traumatic experience, in a way, that I don’t know that anyone’s brain knows how to cope.” 

JoAnna Luiso, the associate director of Southern New Hampshire University’s Career and Professional Development Center, pointed out that graduating college is already a major milestone that can be intimidating for students, and layering in more potential barriers can be daunting.

“The reality behind it is we don't really have definitive answers,” she said. “This isn't really something that we’ve seen before.”

Luiso argued that this economic situation is a far cry from the 2008 recession, which was more clear as it unfolded which sectors could be impacted. The ripple effects of the coronavirus outbreak on businesses and jobs swept through the state and the nation much more quickly, and she said the full repercussions are difficult to discern just yet. 

Making college seniors aware of that fluidity is critical, Luiso said, and her staff encourages students to take a more proactive approach to their job hunt. It’s a challenge for college advisers, she admitted, but the goal is to show students that they can empower themselves “so you’re not becoming paralyzed by the uncertainty.” 

Because Dartmouth College in Hanover measures its classes by quarters rather than semesters, seniors have more time in quarantine than their SNHU counterparts before graduating in mid-June. 

Monica Wilson, the interim director of Dartmouth’s Center for Professional Development, pointed out that this graduating class is getting a few unexpected skills as they navigate these uncharted waters. 

“They’re learning through this process how to adjust quickly, how to absorb a lot of information and how to be flexible,” she said. “... You have to make plans, but you also have to be prepared to change them, and a range of possibilities.”

Like her colleagues, she said she urges students to put their mental health first and find their “sweet spot,” a way to smile or laugh every day. 

“When you have a positive outlook, it almost sets the stage for good things to happen, and I emphasize that with students,” she said. 

Although Concord-based Granite State College serves a different population, staff are prioritizing many of the same strategies for the students. Supporting adult learners in their homes, the bulk of the college’s coursework was conducted online long before COVID-19, so there hasn’t been much disruption to the learning process, according to Vice President of Enrollment Management Tara Payne. 

Unlike most traditional college seniors, the majority of the college’s population is already part of the workforce, she said, with some students using their diplomas to move into management or launch a new career. 

“Given that so many of our students have families, they have full-time jobs, some of them have multiple jobs — they already have so many things that they’re juggling, and now you add this in,” Payne said. 

For now, most students are continuing their courses at Granite State, she said, but a high percentage are first responders, health care workers or members of the military. Although homework may sound like an added stressor to those on the front lines of this crisis, she said some of those students have described their classes as the one constant in a chaotic situation.

Payne said she and her staff are aware, however, that many people will have to make tough decisions, “and we understand that the degree may have to be put on hold temporarily.”

Back on Long Island, Arms echoed that sentiment, referring to it as a “sliding scale of priority and importance that we impose on ourselves daily.” School assignments don’t always make it to the top of that list, she said, and she’s grateful that her professors have all been accommodating and kind to their students. 

“But it’s definitely a bizarre way to end your college career.”

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.