Welcome, Baby ONYX 13 to your Home by the Sea! I know you all are about a month into campus life, but it doesn’t matter. Coming from a person who was once in your shoes barely a year ago; I wish I had something, anything for that matter that would have prepared me for the fast-paced world that is Hampton or any HBCU.
Listen, let me be one hundred percent honest with you guys. College can either make you or break you, but we all strive to have it make us. We want to establish long-lasting bonds with people who might be at your wedding or even the person you’re marrying, and most importantly we want to graduate!!! But that can be draining, so the first recommendation in this guide is. Self Care.
Self Care. Whoever you are, no one should be skipping on self-care in college. College can cause an immense amount of challenges: Loneliness Lack of Motivation; Difficulty with Time Management; Depression; etc. Sadly, these aren’t broadcasted on campus, so students are left to cope with these on their own. Incorporating self-care strategies at least once a week has been proven to improve student morale.
Loosely quoting Jim Rohn “The mind and body work together. Your body needs to be a good support system for the mind and spirit; if you take good care of it it will take you wherever you want.”
Reinvent Yourself or Get out There. This is a clean slate, so maybe a few kids from your high school ended up coming to Hampton too. No one else knows you or about what you were like in high school. Class President, Secretary of National Honor Society, Valedictorian, or just a complete “nerd”. It doesn’t matter here! If you wanted to get out there in high school but couldn’t, this is the place to get out of your comfort zone.
Get Involved. Don’t be a homebody, join a club. Hampton is home to over 100+ clubs, so I don’t want to hear that you haven’t found your fit. Go to organization bazaars, get to know the presidents, and see what these clubs have to offer; I can not stress this enough join your major club. They’ll let you know about all the opportunities and lead you on the right path.
Save your money. Let me tell you this now, the college will be put on a different bracket of broke. You’ll find yourself saying no just to go to McDonald’s for an ice cream cone. You need to be comfortable with saying NO! No to going to that party, no to walking to Wendy’s, no to going to Holland because there will be another one next week. You need to save money, because when you truly need it for important things like groceries, books, and supplies you won’t have it. But that’s not to say don’t have fun. Treat yourself! But you need to establish the line between excessive and just right.
Lastly, I don’t think this needs a whole topic point but HAVE FUN!! You only go to college once, so enjoy it and get everything you paid for; go to the school-sanctioned events; make new friendships; get to know your professor. College is what you make it. As a sophomore, I look back to my freshman year and I always think If I had known the things I know now maybe it would’ve been a tad bit easier; so don’t be a VC hall homebody like I was, get out there!