Author: Cash

Laine Brendel 

Mrs. Toonen 

MWF 9:30 

17. Nov 2023

Advice to the Newcomers 

As an incoming freshman to college, you are probably full of expectations. You are probably thinking to yourself, man I can’t wait to get on campus to meet new people, learn about things I want to, having a roommate, and having fun on the weekends. As a sophomore in college, that’s the mentality I recommend you don’t have.  

People often forget the purpose of college, and it’s solely to prepare you for your future. I made this mistake when I was an incoming freshman. I put myself in a ton of self-sabotaging positions that ultimately created a ton of stress on myself. I was worried about everyone and everything else that hindered me my first month of college. Another piece of advice I can give is to break out of your summer habits. This may sound pretty vague, but breaking summer habits will do a lot for you in a good way in terms of how well you do in college, and the stress levels you attain. Wake up earlier, start cleaning your room, just do something to start breaking those bad summer habits that you know will prepare for the upcoming college school year. You’re getting a roommate right? Make sure you two can maintain a common ground. If something is bothering you, please speak up. It will make your time in the room much more better, and when there is tension, it can and it will affect you as a person. 

Aside form the ways you can manage stress, how can you enjoy college? You can enjoy college by doing things that involve you being yourself. Try to take classes that you know are for you, hang out with like minded people, and find a hobby. College is super diverse and offers so many things for you to be your true authentic self. What is the takeaway from this? Put yourself in positions where you are not forcing yourself to be anyone else, because naturally you will find people just like you, and it’s always a good feeling when you can have a group of likeminded people to be around because of how well it can be for you academically, mentally, and emotionally if you obtain the correct mindset. So join an intramural sport, book club, organization, list goes on. Whatever you fit in best with, put yourself there. And if you are unsure, try new things. Trying new things will make you learn so much about yourself, in a good way.  

Life in the Dorms 

To begin my college career, I started at the University Wisconsin Green Bay, Sheboygan campus. I decided on that for my first year because I felt it would be a good transition into college and would be a cheap way to help me decide if college is for me. After a year of being there, I decided it was time to make the switch to the Green Bay campus.  

During my freshman year of college, I went up to the green bay campus about a handful of times. After the first time I came up, that’s when I realized that I definitely wanted to make the switch up here. It was just way too boring at home, and there were so many more social people up here. Before I knew it, the school year at the Sheboygan campus ended, and it was already move in day up here at Green Bay. The day I moved in I was already meeting a bunch of people. People I met in my dorm, and right there and then I had a great feeling about the school year already in terms of meeting people and having a good social life.  

Living in a dorm has also kept me more focused. I loved being at home with my family, and dogs, etc. However, I found myself getting way too distracted. Just everything still being at my fingertips really distracted me, and being at home constantly made me go off and do other things in my free time. Now that I am in a dorm, I feel very secluded and also focused. Yes, there are plenty of friends in the building I am in, however just being able to shut my door, and stay in the room has allowed me to take care of priorities. Dorms certainly make you miss family, friends, and certain hobbies. However, during these years, academics should be a top priority which is why I made the switch to the dorms because of its impact of keeping me focused.  

The switch from the Sheboygan campus to the Green Bay campus has been an adjustment, but as a second-year student I have the homework workload figured out and the switch up here has been good. I often found myself getting distracted while attending the Sheboygan campus, because I still had all my friends at home, and had plenty of other things to do.  I expected Green Bay to feel distant from home, but honestly, that’s not the case. What I love about the Green Bay campus is how at home it feels. I am only 50 minutes away from home. It’s the perfect distance to feel at home, but also on your own. I don’t have to worry about family or my childhood friends distracting me, but if I need them, they are always 50 minutes away.   

Now, the real deal starts. All the distractions to the side, the way I feel about the locatio to the side, school is now starting. There are certainly things I can be better at; most people would say procrastination and that’s what I could say. I have been tending to put things off to the side mainly the first 3 weeks of school, but once the exams started, that all ended abruptly. In all honesty, I still catch myself procrastinating but after not preparing for an exam all that well once, that script flipped. My grades have been good so far as well. Normally, my grades were shaky to start off the school year, but so far, I’m keeping up with the workload. Outside of academics, I’ve been doing well regarding friendships. I was always a very introverted person, but once this school year started, I was just able to meet a more diverse group of people, and being away from home has helped me really explore my own interests and talk to new people so I don’t remain a stranger.