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I’ve lived in the Hampton Roads area my whole life. Like most people who are stuck in the same place for too long, I just want to get away. However, as much as I’d love to get away, I still chose ODU.
It’s convenient for me to come to ODU. I can live at home and save money since I don’t have to pay for housing or a meal plan. Even though I’d love to experience what it’s like to live on campus, I recognize that it’s a lot cheaper for me to live at home with my parents. Of course, I know not everyone has that option, and I’m incredibly grateful to have it.
When I first transferred into ODU from community college, I was planning to be an international studies major. I felt like Hampton Roads was a great place for that major. There’s a big military community here, and there’s a lot of opportunity to learn about other cultures in and out of the classroom.
If I had decided on being a journalism major before committing to ODU, I probably still would have chosen to come here. I feel like there’s a lot of opportunity to get involved and get journalism experience, not just on campus but off campus too. And there’s so much to write about, like there’s a huge art and culture scene around campus to write about and experience.
Also, ODU has such a great campus community. Sure, there are issues, but every school has its problems. But when ODU faces problems, like the 2016 racist video from a girl (who may or may not have been an ODU student) wearing an ODU hoodie, the campus community doesn’t split up. It brings us together. The negativity that’s put out in the media, whether it be about the crime near campus or the racist video or any other negative incident, doesn’t represent this school, and the students recognize that. Every time something like the video happens, I see so many Facebook posts along the lines of “this doesn’t represent our campus, this isn’t who we are.”
I didn’t just choose ODU for the convenience of being able to live at home and save money by not living on campus and paying for a meal plan. When choosing a school, there’s more to it than the cost of attending, though that is a very important factor since college is expensive, but that doesn’t mean you should just choose a school because it’s cheap because you might not be happy there. I chose ODU because of the campus community, a community that comes together when something goes wrong and stands by each other. I chose it because no matter what happens, I know this campus community is going to come together and show solidarity and that the negative actions of a few do not represent the campus as a whole.