New Student Nusrah’s Perspective on Remote Learning at UMass 

By Gabby Grondalski & Grace Keller

Nusrah Azeez is a friendly new face in the Communication department at UMass Amherst. She received her Associate’s degree from Massasoit Community College in Brocton and transferred to UMass to pursue her Bachelor’s in Communication. “I just wanted an environment that was diverse and you could feel the sense of community. When I visited the school I felt like UMass was the best option for me.” She has many interests and wants to explore them by adding the Business minor and the International Relations certificate to her course load. 

Living at home this semester is not what she hoped for, but she is making the most of it by really focusing on what’s important to her, which is getting good grades and meeting people. For Nusrah, remote learning so far, “ has not been as bad as I thought it was going to be… going to school would be easier because you have other people you can talk to and work on things with, but it’s been okay. I’ve had some problems but there are people I’ve reached out to and I got help.” She reaches out to the Peer Advisors, her Communication academic advisor, her peers in her classes, and professors. She believes UMass has done a good job giving her enough resources, “At the start of the semester I didn’t know how to use Moodle, it was confusing for me, but there were videos and the professors were very helpful. And my transfer seminar was very helpful.” Her favorite classes this semester are COMM 288: Gender, Sex and Representation and COMM 386: Race, Inequality, and Representation. “Those two classes I like because they make me see things in a very different way.” In order to feel a sense of the UMass community and meet people outside of her classes she joined a couple of clubs at UMass such as the Muslim Student’s Association (MSA) and UMass for the Kids. MSA also has the option for a book club, so she joined that as well. 

She stays motivated in her classes because she knows she wants good grades, “I have to do the work, I have to go to class, so I think in my mind I have no choice. I feel like that is my motivation.” She writes out what she needs to do so that she doesn’t forget. “You know when you go to class and you get reminded of what you need to do for that class but since there’s no going to class you need to write everything down. Because even though we’ve been in class for months now, you still feel like you forget when assignments are due and when you have a class.” 

Nusrah feels like “you don’t get the full college experience coming from a community college but at the same time you are able to save a lot of money on all the other expenses you get at a four-year college. Some people don’t like to do it because there is a stigma of people who go to community college, because they think you’re not smart enough to get into a four-year college.” Like many students, she feels she is most deprived of connecting with people because of the online setting. If she has the chance to go back to UMass in person she is most looking forward to meeting people. Nusrah is a bright and hardworking student and we look forward to seeing all that she accomplishes at UMass.