A day in the life of a freshman
Freshmen arrived on campus for Connections almost two weeks ago to begin their college journey. According to Utah State University records, approximately 16,000 students attended in fall of 2009 and a quarter of them were freshmen. Among this year’s 2012 freshmen were Tiffany Funk and Erica Youd.
Youd is majoring in accounting but said she hopes to change that. She moved to Logan with the help of her family but said the change wasn’t too drastic since she’d been living in an apartment near home for the summer.
“My parents and I had some disagreements and living apart from them actually helped work them out,” she said.
Living on-campus is easier than where she lived this summer.
“It’s a really different environment,” she said. “You don’t have to worry about paying rent each month, and where your next meal is coming from.”
Funk, who is majoring in art, moved to Logan at the beginning of the summer to start her job as a cook for Logan Legacy House Assisted Living. Moving onto campus was different, but mostly because of the sheer volume of people, she said.
“I’ve met so many people, and I don’t remember all of their names,” said Funk. “There are just so many people you just can’t do it.”
Youd said she met lots of people in Logan but feels she’s in a different situation – she is antisocial and she isn’t single.
“It affects the way you relate to people,” she said. “I feel like a lot of people’s social interactions are to meet someone they want to be with. Everyone wants to be with someone.”
Youd Skypes with her Provo boyfriend every night.
“Guys like girls, and I think that girls like to think about just being friends with guys, but guys don’t work that way,” Youd said.
On the first day of school Youd woke up for her 8:30 a.m. tumbling class and said her first thought about college life was, “It’s early!”
“I haven’t had to wake up that early since I was a junior in high school,” she said. “It’s hard to do.”
Youd said life is very different in college and she’s still working on getting the hang of it.
“There are different rules here, things are done in a different way,” she said. “Today in calculus I asked the teacher, ‘Is it ok if I eat a chewy bar in class?’ and he said that’s never OK. It’s so different, I just don’t know all the rules about how college is run.”
Still, Youd said she loves the fact she’s living in a place so focused.
“Everything around you is all about school and all about learning,” she said. “It’s exciting.”
Funk said her first class was let out early because the teacher had undergone a mouth surgery a few days prior and couldn’t talk.
“He didn’t seem to want to be there since his mouth was hurting pretty badly,” she said.
Still, she’s excited for her classes and the opportunity to learn.
“I am an art major, but I don’t really know how to draw,” Funk said. “I love art, and I’m hoping I don’t suck too badly.”
A new environment always brings worries, and Youd said she has her own set of worries herself.
“I’m worried about staying up with my classes and schoolwork,” she said. “I have chronic fatigue, so I’m really just going to try to stay up-to-date.”
Freshman year is a year about transitions and new experiences. Some freshmen, like Kelly Moffett last year, have expectations and worries prior to entering college. Moffett is a sophomore in marketing and design and said she still remembers her hesitations about college.
“I was really nervous about the responsibility of living on my own,” she said. “I think finding a foundation was the scariest part for me. It took about a week before I was able to work out the system.”
Adison Griffith, sophomore majoring in special education, said she thought college would be a lot harder than it was and freshmen should try to enjoy the time they had more.
“I would have done more to get involved in school,” Griffith said. “Joined a club, gone to more of the football and basketball games. Also, I probably would have taken more advantage of the math tutoring, because I didn’t do that until it was too late.”
Moffett and Griffith lived on campus in the LLC their freshman year and now room off campus in a small house. Moffett also would have made some changes if she could.
“I think if I was going to go back, I would have decided before to be comfortable with myself,” she said. “That was one of the biggest things that held me back was that I didn’t know who I was supposed to be. Being the youngest on campus you don’t know what to do, so I think it’s just humbling yourself and asking people for ideas.”
– april.ashland@aggiemail.usu.edu