I’ve decided to write my last article of the semester about reflecting on my whirlwind of a freshman year. I had a hard time adjusting like most people freshman year, but thankfully I met really amazing people to help me through it. The transition from living at home to living by myself wasn’t the only hard transition. Going from not having to really study in high school and still getting good grades, to spending most of my free time studying was a huge adjustment. My freshman year was full of ups and downs and trying to figure out where I belonged. I learned a lot from these ups and downs. I learned that it’s okay to miss your family, not to let bad grades define you, skipping class is way too easy, you may not meet your best friends for life and lastly, enjoy it. My freshman year was a blur for me and I wish I took the time to focus on little things rather than stressing all the time. I decided to even ask some of my friends that attend other colleges what they took away from their freshman college experience. Here’s what they had to say.
“Don’t procrastinate because it won’t help you in the long run” Nicole Barnada, Rider University
“That you just have to put yourself out there and explore new things, even if you’re unsure about it.” Nicole Ward, University of Maryland
“As a freshman, we think that we are not old enough, experienced enough, established enough to accomplish the things we want to now. I feel like we set long term goals that we can only achieve when we’ve officially “made it,” but our goals and accomplishments don’t have to be a long way down the line. You can make a difference NOW in your school, In your community, and in your country by being involved. So that being said, I would say the greatest lesson I learned my freshman year was to be intentional in everything I do…. whether that be for the courses I take, the friends I choose to surround me, and what organizations I choose to join.”
Mikaela Mosley, Howard University
Overall the biggest thing I took away from freshman year is that having a good support system is great and so is surrounding yourself with good people. However, I learned that at the end of the day, you have to be your biggest supporter, because if your not your biggest cheerleader who else will be?