By Sebastian Gutierrez-Olvera

Often when we are teaching, we only see our students for a few hours each week. What were they experiencing during Covid-19 that we didn’t see? Four students have agreed to tell their stories about the past year; watch Math Values this week for a glimpse into the lives of our students.

Sebastian Gutierrez-Olvera is a math major and a rising sophomore at the University of Dallas.

Tell us about your experiences as a student during Covid-19.

This past school year was one of the hardest challenges that I've had the pleasure of overcoming.

When Covid hit, I was on a mission year in Louisiana between high school and college. During that year, the most math I did was guessing how much gas was going to cost me. This meant I hadn't done anything pertaining to my major for a little over a year when I started college in fall 2020.

Covid-19 had a major impact on every aspect of life. My hometown is twenty minutes away from the University of Dallas. I did live on campus, but I constantly had to go home for many different reasons. The issue with going home is that I have three asthmatic brothers and a father who is a heavy cigarette smoker. It was absolutely clear to me that I was in no position to act carelessly with Covid. Classes at my small Catholic university were going to be in person so there was always stress about being careful. My close friends from high school, each with their own struggles, were back in our hometown doing online classes. The combination of all of this meant that I had to go home often to help friends and family, all while trying to remember how mathematics works.

The two biggest challenges were thankfully in separate semesters. In the Fall, my grandfather's health began to quickly deteriorate. My mom was constantly flying back to Mexico City to check on him in the hospital and assist her family with the costs of treatment. For a month and a half, we prayed and prayed that he would pull through. He passed away on October 3rd in his sleep. I was distraught, and I opened up to my professor, Dr. Hudgins about it. She offered her condolences and said that if I needed a couple of extra days to do homework that I was more than welcome to take them.

In Spring, I started working back home on weekends. This meant I was home a lot more than usual and had to deal with situations back home. The biggest thing that I had to deal with was my closest friend Carter. For a couple of weeks, Carter was texting me all the time about the situation he was going through back home. I am just going to say that it was really bad—bad enough that I needed to check on him frequently. I was extremely distracted in my Calculus 2 class and was only able to turn in about half of my homework because I was driving back and forth between home and UD so much. Then about three days before a test in my Calc 2 class, he was kicked out of his home. He walked about two and half hours to my house, arriving at 4 am or so and fell asleep outside, near my car, waiting for me to get ready to go to work. Needless to say, I was not in a Calculus mindset. I failed that Calc 2 exam.

I knew I had failed the exam as soon as I turned it in, and my teacher, Dr. Hudgins, knew that I was not doing well. I pulled her aside immediately and told her what was going on. I told her I didn't expect a retest or anything like that, but that instead, I wanted to make up all the work that I had missed because of the situation back home. She encouraged me to make up the work because I was going to need to understand the material for the final. I told her that I wasn't expecting her to add all the late assignments to my grade; it would just be for my benefit. I came into her office hours every day for about two weeks. I was just trying to catch up on everything while making sure that I understood all the current material. She gave me feedback on the assignments. She did not count the homework, but she agreed that if I was on the border of passing the course or not, she would count them. I went on to pass the course after Dr. Hudgins assisted me as much as needed.

Did you seek help from others?

I reached out a lot to friends for help during my grandfather's death. All the teachers that I reached out to were really helpful and gave me a little bit of time to mourn my loss. I was able to clear my head of all the thoughts that his death brought. When Carter was kicked out of his house my parents were kind enough to let him stay with them while I went to work and then back to college. Thankfully, he returned home and was eventually put into therapy to help with his depressive and suicidal thoughts. The time that my teachers gave me was the biggest help for me during that period. It reminded me that there were people who wanted to see me succeed and that they would help me to do so as well.

What did you tell your professors?

I was completely honest with them. I tried to respect their time as much as possible and wanted to make sure that I respected their material as well. In return, I feel like they respected my decisions and requests for help.

What did you learn from this experience?

I learned to keep pushing even when everything is overwhelming you. I learned to do the necessary work, even if I wouldn't outright benefit from it until later. Reaching out like I did was already something I was good at, but these experiences affirmed my beliefs that teachers want to see a student succeed.

What would you like to tell your peers?

Please reach out to teachers when things are taking you by storm. They were once in your shoes and they understand. Even if your situation is unique, they can still comprehend the difficulty and try to assist you in whatever way they can.

What would you like to say to your instructors?

Thank you, from the absolute bottom of my heart. This college thing isn't super easy, and with everything going on around me I wasn't sure I'd finish like I did. I didn't even know if I would drop out. It's thanks to you and your help that I passed and learned as much as I could.