Most people can be a bit trepidatious when starting college. Did I pick the right school? Am I going to find my place and my friends? Could I have done better? All these thoughts surely ran through my mind in the beginning. But as the end of the semester rushes towards us, I know that Millersville is exactly where I need to be.
One of my biggest fears starting college was being away from home and my parents for extended periods of time. I’m an only child who has a very close bond with her parents, so being away from that was frankly hard to come to terms with, but I knew I needed to do it. Little did I know, however, that as the end of the year came closer and closer, how reluctant I would be to leave. Millersville has become so much more to me than just a school, it is home. Of course, my mom, dad, cats, and puny town of Emmaus are still home to me as well, but here I have found a home and family of my own design. College is a process of independence, so while it will always important to cling to home and family, we also have to learn to expand those definitions. Here at Millersville I have found home in my friends, my organizations, and my program, and I don’t intend on letting go.
A Second Family
At the start of this year, I had no idea how it would be to start from scratch making friends. And at the beginning, my odds were not looking good. I had made a few friends in my Orientation Group, but we were all in very different majors with taxing schedules, so getting time to really bond and become closer became difficult. I started spending more time alone in my dorm room. But by a twist of fate (aka scheduling mistakes and projects I didn’t want to do) I met my college family. The process was slow, to be sure, and not without its awkward moments, but I could not be more grateful for its outcomes. College has given me the closest, most wonderful, and caring friends I have ever had the privilege to know. Every day they show me unparalleled love, and I strive to show it back, though I fear I continually miss the mark. They are at the top of the list of reasons why I don’t want to go home. Not getting to see each one of them, especially my roommate, every day and have the opportunity to laugh and love and cry and laugh again with them will be incredibly difficult this summer. But like with my family at home, I have confidence that this absence will not diminish the family we have built here. Above all else, it is my friends that have allowed Millersville to become home.
A Purpose
Of course, friendships and family are not the only things that give a sense of belonging and place at Millersville. During my first year I have had amazing opportunities to engage with organizations on campus, including HerCampus of course! These opportunities have given me perhaps the second most important part of feeling like I belong here: a sense of purpose. Each club, from Her Campus, to Amnesty International, to Student Senate, to MESO, and more, has given me purpose on this campus. Her Campus in particular started right off the bat by giving me a group of intelligent, engaged, hilarious, and caring young women to want to impress and be a part of. My purpose here was to become as important to them as they are to me. As I began to settle in, the purpose shifted a bit, to wanting to produce my best work and challenging myself to be honest both to myself and to the world at large. But the initial purpose never went away completely, and with each article and each meeting I strive to make them proud. My other clubs gave me purposes such as finding new and innovative ways to advocate for change and educate the campus community, or in the case of Senate, to find ways to work in the best interests of students and to fight to make organizations and Senate better. Each club gave me a goal and a purpose on this campus, and each member of these clubs gave me the drive to pursue them. For the rest of my time here, I plan to make them proud.
A Confirmation
Most college students ask themselves at least once or twice if they’ve picked the right major. With the variety available today, one almost has to question one has made. I certainly had my concerns as to whether or not I had chosen the right major for me. But after a semester and many conversations with family members and friends, I found that I had not a shred of doubt in my mind that I had chosen the right major. Quite frankly, I may not have had this certainty at another college. My program of International Studies, is so strong and well put together on this campus, with such incredible faculty and staff, that I cannot help but constantly feel excited about my major. I will talk anyone’s ear off who will listen about how much I love my field. This would not be the case everywhere. Millersville has exceptional professors who truly engage with both the students and the material, and whose enthusiasm for their field is blatanly obvious to anyone who so much as looks at them. This passion and enthusiasm is contagious and permeates the entire student experience. This creates a sense of comfort and place necessary to make MU a home for its students. This cannot be synthesized and is certainly not found in every college.
I have friends from high school in big fancy schools like Yale, Lehigh, Penn State, NYU and more. These schools are selective and expensive. Could I have made it in to some of these, probably. But after my first year at MU, there is nothing that I chose wrong in picking a medium-sized PA state school. This is where I belong, and I sincerely hope that other have and will have the same experience I have had at the Ville.
*All images courtesy of Millersville University