If that all sounds bleak, that’s because it is, but this crop of recent graduates is resilient. “We’re the best generation to handle this,” says Jasmine Choi, one of the Canadian teens I interviewed for this piece. The students starting first year are going in with their eyes open: knowing how anti-Black Canadian post-secondary institutions can be, understanding what crushing disappointment feels like (multiple students told me they had to give up going to their dream schools because of COVID-19 restrictions), and working through the complicated emotions of having to stay put in small-minded hometowns that won’t let them be themselves (a story from a queer student hoping to go to university to finally meet like-minded people brought me to tears).
What It’s Like To Start University & College In COVID
