Before I became a Monarch, I was once a Lancer at Longwood University my freshman year of college. When I decided to come home after my freshman year, I don’t think I ever really prepared myself for how commuting from home to my new school was going to be. I thought it was going to be a lot easier than it was. However, I can tell you now, sitting at the kitchen table in my last semester at a school I love so much, commuting was well worth every struggle. It was worth it for me because I was involved in so many different things, and as crazy as that sounds, I wouldn’t have met all of the people I did if I just stayed home. In a way, in a way, guided me to realize how much I could handle at once, which is one of the many lessons college teaches you.
The start of my freshman year, I had joined Cru. I was raised Catholic, and that was all I knew when I first joined, but many weeks later, I started to fall in love with Non-Denominational Christianity. I still consider myself Catholic, but I personally felt like I had a better understanding of who God was by experiencing another religious group. I’m not preaching that other people should do the same, because I believe that people should do whatever suits them. This was just a part of my journey. After this, I decided I wanted to “Go Greek” in the spring by choosing to be a sister in Delta Zeta Theta Phi, and I was also a part of Young Americans for Liberty at the same time. I still saw people from Cru walking around campus that I still love and admire, but even though I got caught up in these other organizations, as years progressed, I started to have leadership positions with these groups. Then, throughout my final years in college, I became involved with Intervarsity, by going their Crash meetings on Thursday nights which I highly recommend, and of course HerCampus.
As you can imagine, there were times when I struggled going to different meetings and events as a commuter from Virginia Beach. However, if I had to relive those days all over again, I so would! I met some unbelievably kind people in all of the groups, and I have so many connections I would have never had without trying to go to a least one or two meetings a week. I also have so many different experiences, and gained a lot of skills, that I could talk about in interviews after I graduate college. So, my advice for freshman or transfer students that have to commute from their home to their school would be to not just stay home. Experience as much as you can even if some days you get frustrated having to drive back and forth. If you truly love your school, like I do, then getting involved, ten times out of ten, will make you love it even more. It’s never gonna hurt you if you don’t or can’t make it to something, but I felt like I would have regretted everything about college if I never tried putting myself out there.