Although we are one year into a global pandemic, I find that I’m still adjusting to life in the new normal. Aside from wearing masks and getting together with friends six feet apart from each other, there are aspects of living as a college student during a pandemic that still feel abnormal to me. Especially, having classes fully online.

I try to be resourceful — seeking out tips, tricks, and products from TikTok and Instagram that seem helpful for people working and learning from home. Colorful keyboard skins, blue light glasses, and a weekly planner have become personal necessities since classes transitioned online.

When an envelope from Simmons arrived in the mail, I was hoping for something like the items listed above, the ones I’ve made a habit of buying online. But, surprisingly, what I found inside that envelope was incredibly random and almost comical: a neoprene mouse pad with a list of resource links to student organization Instagrams and emails.

Initially, I felt confused by it. Why decide to give students a mouse pad with email addresses and social accounts that they could easily find online? Class council isn’t that hard to track down. Why not send each student an item that’s more related to their current situation as an undergraduate during a pandemic?

Plus, I think we can all agree that mouse pads are pretty obsolete in 2021. Most students don’t even have a need for a mouse pad because the majority of us use laptops.

Next time, (if there is one) I hope we’re given a Simmons face mask or laptop sticker. Any item that’s more modern and relevant to the world we live in today.