With about a month of the school year left, it is time to reflect on how this year went for me. This year I started my first year of college, a big milestone in my life that I have been eagerly waiting for. College in some ways is exactly what I pictured, but in others not so much. This year was full of ups and some downs. This year I explored who I am as a person and stepped out of my comfort zone many times. Freshman year was a rollercoaster, so let’s look back at it.
Coming into college, I did not know what to expect. I was so happy when move-in day finally came and was so ready all summer to come to Merrimack. As someone who lives close to campus, I was not worried about being away from home, but rather thrilled for this big opportunity I was about to endure. The first month of college I feel like I grew immensely. I made so many new friends, adjusted to the school work pretty easily, joined organizations I never thought I would do, and became a social butterfly. In high school, I was only talkative around those who I was close to, but college pushed a different self out of me. I feel more comfortable speaking up, reaching out to people, and socializing than I did in high school. This has made me so many connections at Merrimack that can help me for the future. I feel like I can be myself no matter what setting I am in or who I am with at Merrimack, but I cannot say the same thing about when I was in high school. Overall, college so far has pushed me to be a better person and not be afraid of anything.
To continue, with my first year experience so far, I did some things I never thought I would do. For example, I joined a sorority a little over a month after I had just moved in. Before college, Greek Life was something I never pictured myself being a part of. I thought that it was not for me and that I would not fit in. However, coming to Merrimack and learning about the sororities on campus changed my mind completely. About three weeks into my first semester of college, I decided to rush because of all the different exciting things the sororities had to offer. I ended up joining Zeta Tau Alpha and it was the best decision I have ever made. I have met some of my best friends, have had amazing experiences, and commit to service for a good cause. Being a part of such a wonderful sisterhood has helped me step out of my shell.
Something else I have achieved this past year is making the President’s List this past semester ending with a perfect, 4.0 GPA. I always had relatively good grades in high school with maintaining A’s and B’s while also taking honors and AP classes. I thought that coming into college my classes were going to be ten times harder than high school, having ten times as much work, and it being nearly impossible to get an A in any class. Before coming into college, I saw a lot of videos on social media of people saying how they were A students in high school and then became C and D students in college because they could not adjust. I was panicking so much over the summer about keeping good grades when the school year started and not falling behind. Turns out, it was not so hard to keep up with my grades once college started. Yes I was assigned more work and some of it was harder than high school, but I put the time and effort into my studies like how I have been doing my whole life. That time and effort led me to finishing the first semester with all A’s, making the President’s List, having a 4.0 GPA, and maintaining my A’s this semester. If anything, college has taught me so far how to be more productive, how to balance my time better, and to continue putting in effort into academics. This has led me to staying in the Honors Program and getting into Omicron Kappa Delta this semester, an honors society that the top 35% of students are in from each class.
Even though I have had so many great experiences in college so far, there have been bumps along the way. There have been days that I have been burnt out, days not as enjoyable, days where I have had endless homework, and countless times that I have been sick. Since I am an optimistic person, I tend to look at the positives when these happen and just think that the next day will be better and it usually is. These roadblocks that I have gone through are all part of the college experience that every student faces at least some time during their college career. It is totally normal to go through these things.
As there is only about one month left of my first year, I want to continue being this improved, confident, and hard working person I have become because it has opened so many doors for me. If you were to tell me a year ago who I am now, I would be in complete shock. I would never think I could accomplish what I have accomplished. Freshman year was definitely a year of firsts for me and I am excited for where the next three years will take me.