By Chloe Cassaro @micro_scientist
COVID-19 has been with us for almost a year now, and while it has put a great strain on in-person social life, meeting up with family and friends, and a whole lot of other aspects, it has also uncovered many new opportunities and possibilities to me.
Hence; very early on I decided that the best thing to do to keep my sanity was to take on responsibility in societies, college and my DPhil department. And that is what I did. I started a “Always say yes” approach, and got involved in a few committees, became social secretary for both my college and my department, and increasingly got involved in teaching of undergraduates.
Of course, everything is happening online at the moment, and that can be offsetting, sometimes a bit awkward, and it requires some good equipment. However, this has made the juggling of different responsibilities much easier, as I could not imagine my weeks, full of meetings, appointments or events if they were to be in person with travelling time.
It has been a busy Michaelmas term, but it was very enjoyable, and largely allowed to preserve some sense of social life, via Zoom or Teams, organising talks, quizzes or virtual formals. I have met a wider range of people, many freshers who seemed immensely grateful for the opportunity to meet people from the comfort of their rooms, but also later year students, even colleagues I had never met before, working together now to come up with events and activities for all to enjoy.
It has also been very formative, especially demonstrating in practical labs, sometimes on topics I know very little about, and I have no doubt all of these positions – numerous ones – will be an invaluable addition to my resume and my experience.
Of course, this was all in addition to my DPhil work, and experiments, which are already keeping me busy and that I am enjoying a whole lot. All of these opportunities have forced me to have a better balance between work and social life and required a whole lot of organisation.
Overall, I am very satisfied with what I have been able to achieve – even if it was not always successful - and it has made my year a little sweeter, and it has made my days go by much quicker than I expected.
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