Amidst times of uncertainty, BYU–Hawaii students described the pandemic’s positive experiences, from spending time with family to getting engaged.
“[The pandemic] allowed the whole world to kind of slow down, which I really appreciated. I think we all needed this time to reflect on our lives and give us time to work on things that we want to work on. I hope everyone has taken the time to reach out to people,” said Ashley DeMann, a senior from Utah majoring in exercise science.
Tatum Sammon, a senior from Arizona studying communications, said she returned home while her boyfriend stayed in Hawaii. Because of their time apart, Sammon said she and her boyfriend decided they would get engaged.
“It gave us time to get to know each other in a different way. We weren’t planning on getting married before I left,” said Sammon.
Garrett Jensen, a recent graduate from Oregon and Sammon’s fiance, shared they would FaceTime every day for hours and spent time genuinely getting to know each other.
“It was really interesting to see how differently our relationship progressed because it was long distance. Then, during those three months we were apart, we felt like we had a strong bond and wanted to get married.”
Sammon added being apart and going through trials together made the couple more confident in their decision to get married.
“I think having these bigger decisions to make and being apart while not having more of the fluffy part of dating and going through these trials, that’s what made us both feel more confident in saying we wanted to get married.”
DeMann said because of COVID-19, she was allowed to return home and spend extended time with her family, which wasn’t supposed to happen this year.
“All of my siblings were scattered, and we all ended up coming back. Honestly, it felt like a Christmas vacation. I know the world [is] scary, but we were having a great time. There was a lot of bonding, and [we were] always taking care of the twins, so our lives were not boring. I know a lot of people felt really isolated. I was lucky that I didn’t because our house was just fizzy and fun.”
Being around family eased her mind during these difficult times, DeMann said. “I felt that if anything did happen… I would at least have people who loved me and cared about me, and we could go through it together. Knowing they would be around and they would support me gave me a lot of comfort.”
Sammon said having church within her home brought her family closer together, and they grew spiritually stronger. “We’ve all grown more spiritual together, which I’ve never experienced with my family before. During the pandemic and having all this time together, that’s been something we’ve really needed.”
Having the spiritual bonding time helped her family become more prepared for trials together, Sammon said.
“My brother got in a motorcycle accident a few weeks ago. But I think we were more spiritually prepared than we would have been had we not had that time together.
“Even though there’s a lot of crazy stuff happening, life has continued, and we’ve gotten to still find joy during it. It’s been really special to see.”
DeMann shared she witnessed her community coming together, from delivering pies to neighbors to putting stuffed animals in windows for people out on daily walks.
“Around my whole neighborhood, there are all these stuffed animals in the windows. And it’s just a little reminder that we’re all together as we’re walking by.”
Because of the cancellation of Independence Day festivities, DeMann said her family decided to put together a parade for the neighbors to watch and enjoy. “We made flyers and put them on everyone’s doors. We decorated two cars with balloons and flags. We had kids decorate their bikes to be in the parade. We thought no one would come because of COVID, but there were people there - a few spectators to throw candy to and lots of kids riding their bikes.”
Sammon said she could see the community spirit in her neighborhood in Arizona as well. She said community members painted small rocks lining a local path with colorful, uplifting messages. “Instead of grass, we just have rocks everywhere. On our local bike trail, there are many more little painted rocks with cute little messages written on, ‘You can do this,’ ‘You’re not alone.’ Some of them are just painted like a rainbow. I haven’t seen that many [painted rocks] before this. It would be just one or two, but recently a lot of people have been adding [painted rocks].”