Niko suggested that I also write a post about how we upperclassmen can help out those younger than us. This was another great suggestion, so, by gosh, I'm gonna write about it!
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| How I imagine Niko's reaction now. |
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| gifs make me happy. |
It doesn't do a whole lot for school unity or the community element of a small university if we spend the whole time judging, ignoring and separating ourselves from others. So, my recommendation would be to just reach out to the younger students: talk to them, sit with them in the Student Center, etc. The scariest part of the transition into college is being on your own, made worse if you're alone in it. So, if we can reach out and be their support, that can be the most helpful thing.
I'm not saying that you need to spend all your time hanging out with freshmen, but just being available to them to recommend professors, classes, majors or something like that can be the best thing for them. Just think about all the times Freshman year you had no idea what was going on and try to save someone else from that. We're all in this together; we might as well start acting like it.
What do y'all think? Good advice or bad? Too many gifs? Not enough? The comment section invites you!
I think this is good advice for the upperclassmen so the freshman can feel at home away from home. I know when I first went to college I was scared for my life, but making friends made things alot easier for me. My question to you is if "we" as upperclassmen were to be friendly with the lowerclassmen would this really change things for the freshman or will there still be a feeling of misplacement.
ReplyDeleteI think there will always be a feeling of displacement. I mean, it's a total culture shock of changing scenery and environments so I don't think that displaced feeling will go away but I think it would be a little easier if you knew that someone who had been here a while had your back.
DeleteAlways more gifs.
ReplyDeleteThis is very good advice. It really can be a difficult transition coming to college without having any friends. You know, a lot of times I can't even tell when someone is a freshmen? Many of them seem to be just as mature as upperclassmen. You can't judge a book by its cover, or in this case a student by their number of years at school. Being friendly and helping people out is definitely the right way to go. This can be especially helpful for things like informing them how to register for classes, housing, where to buy blue books, or about some cool student organizations they might be interested in. Thanks for answering my suggestions. And I agree with Hope. The more gifs the merrier.
ReplyDeleteI made a point this year as a senior to make as many friends with the fishies as possible because I knew I wouldn't be around much during the spring semester because of student teaching. Some of them are the greatest friends in the world, and I think I have helped them a lot to come out of their shell :)
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Freshmen need upperclassmen help. It's a scary thing to come to college all alone. I remember that and it was not a good feeling for the first week. Not only should we help Freshmen but also each other.
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