Dylanie Frazier has idiopathic juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. The medication she is prescribed causes a compromised immune system, especially for respiratory diseases. This has led Frazier to make the cautious decision to stay at home in Boise during the pandemic, rather than return to in-person classes at the University of Idaho. Yet even in this online environment, she remains active in her sorority, ASUI, classes and manages to maintain a positive outlook.
Q: What made you decide to stay home?
A: “My decision factor is that I have very big plans I am looking at attending the law school at U of I. I’m also a senator at ASUI and I have a lot of responsibilities and I know that if I were to get sick I would have to put a lot of these things on hold, along with my academics as well. That is something I don’t want to do, so I just decided to stay at home and focus on my academics and being an ASUI senator from a distance. This way I can still fulfill the responsibilities I would like to.”
Q: What do you miss most about campus or your sorority?
A: “The atmosphere and being able to be alongside other people who have similar ambitions and goals as what I have. People who are going through a similar situation on going through school during a pandemic and having that support system that makes it feel like we’re all kind of in this together. I still do have that sense of community, but it’s definitely different being so far away from everyone.”
Q: What do you miss most about Moscow?
A: “There’s so many things. I really wish I could just be up there, but I guess the thing I miss most is my friends and being able to sit in-person in lecture and have that connection with my professors. All my professors have been amazing and have been working with me super well. I just wish I had the opportunity to be able to go into their office hours and have that personal communication.”
Q: If COVID-19 miraculously disappeared and you came back to Moscow, what’s the first thing you would do?
A: “I would go to an in-person Senate meeting, this is something I really, really want to do. I want to be able to introduce myself not only to the Senate but to the committees as well, and understand that I want to make a difference and be able to have that kind of connection that I’m lacking at the moment. I just really miss not being in-person for the Senate, it’s one of my big things.”
Q: What do you think everyone should experience before leaving Moscow?
A: “There’s so many things. An ASB weekend trip or service break trip is an amazing opportunity and especially since I am a part of Greek life, sometimes I don’t necessarily have association with the entire community as I would like to. I went on one Spring 2019 and we went to Sandpoint, ID and did a cancer community service fundraiser. It was so amazing to me, all of these individuals and me being the only one from the Greek community. I was able to understand their perceptions and the things they’re involved in on campus and the different areas that I didn’t even know about.”
Story by Elizabeth Holdridge
Photos by Courtesy
Design by Taylor Lund