Final Draft

Ohio University campus 

Embracing a New Community and Home

          I was always a homebody up until I was about 18 years old. I spent all of my time at home with my family or out with all of my friends from high school. That was where I was comfortable and that was where I planned to stay, until my senior of high school. All of my friends were getting scholarships and applying to colleges around the country. I never really imagined my life outside of high school and decided that it was time for a change, so I applied to Ohio University. My parents didn't believe there was any way that I would go to OU and stay there considering I had no friends going with me; my mom didn't even buy an OU mom shirt until a year after I was in school. But, I was determined to become a bobcat and change my life around. Instead of being the shy girl who was too afraid to leave her comfort zone I was going to go to college and join a new community that would change my life. I found this quote below under Ohio University's mission/vision/values and it really stood out to me after being a student there,

Ohio University strives to be the best student-centered, transformative learning community in America, where more than 35,000 students realize their promise, faculty advance knowledge, staff achieves excellence, and alumni become global leaders. OHIO is committed to fostering, embracing, and celebrating diversity in all its forms. Our Athens Campus offers students a residential learning experience in one of the nation’s most picturesque academic settings. (Ohio)

I, like most students at Ohio University, found this information to be true. I have found my promise, had amazing teachers and help along my way through school, and I learned to foster, embrace, and celebrate the diversity of a new community. A community is “a social group of any size whose members resides in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage. (Dictionary)” Being a part of a new community was scary and exciting for me. I didn't know if I would fit in or be accepted by the other members, but Ohio University helped me to find my independence, and be a more confident person. There were many experiences that I went through that made me realize I belonged in the Ohio University community and I learned that this is the place I would call home for the next four years of my life. 

A tree changing color on college green

Nothing like Your First Time

I can remember the first time that representatives from Ohio University came and talked to my high school. They told us that they had great academics and the campus was beautiful, I didn't quite believe them until I stepped foot on campus for my first Up Close visit with my dad the spring of my senior year of high school. I had already applied and been accepted to the school and my parents wanted me to visit the campus and make sure that this was where I wanted to spend my college days. As you can see from the picture above the school is as gorgeous as the representatives said it would be, and I was excited to see more.

My dad and I started our day at the Templeton Blackburn Auditorium. We listened to people talk about how much they loved their school, and all of the benefits we would have if we attended school at OU in the fall. Next, we got to listen to the president talk about what a great school this was to attend and how proud he was to be the president of such a prestigious and picturesque school. I was hooked and already feeling like a bobcat. Hearing about how all of these people came to Ohio University and fit right in made me have some hope that I would be able to leave my family and friends and start a life here. What really made me realize that this was the school for me was when we went on the walking tour of campus. We visited a dorm room, saw some classrooms, and walked through college green. It was so beautiful and everything that I wanted in a college campus.

College Green

This Up Close visit was all that I needed to make my decision to attend Ohio University in the fall. Just being here for the day showed me that this was an easy community to become a part of as long as I made an effort. I was scared that things would be hard for me to adjust to since I was so connected to my high school and home life in Sunbury but I had to trust in the words of the students and faculty from my visit that this was a great school with a great faculty and students.

Freedom at Last

Armbruster Hall on South Green

                  Today was finally the day that I got to move into my dorm and claim my independence. After a grueling and boring orientation over the summer I was ready to move in and be on my own. At orientation, the advice that we were given was really helpful. They told us that everyone coming to school at OU was going to be making new friends just like us so we shouldn't be scared to meet new people because they want to meet us too. This advice proved to be true because when I first got on campus everyone that I ran into was really friendly, they all said hello, held doors open for me, and introduced themselves.

Since I was a freshman I couldn't have a car on campus so I drove down with my mom and boyfriend, Michael and we met my dad and sister, Kayleigh at my dorm building, Armbruster Hall. I was going to be living in a mod with 7 other girls and 6 boys and we all lived in single dorm rooms. I had originally asked to be put in a quad because I thought it would be easier to make friends but I don’t think I could have unknowingly been put in a better situation with my mod. I can be a very closed off person and sometimes I need my own space so having my own room was great even though it was small as you can see in the picture to the right. The mod space was where we could all hang out, like a living room, meet each other, and hang out. Living in our mod was like a small community in itself.

My first dorm room

My parents had to push me to introduce myself to all the people in my mod, I'm thankful that they did though because they are all really close to me to this day. That first night after we were all moved into our rooms we all sat in the mod and talked about where we were from, what our majors were, and even made some plans for the weekend. We shared a bathroom, a living pace, and were always leaving our doors open so that if someone wanted to come hang out they could. The Ohio University community was treating me great and made me feel included so easily and I hadn't even started classes yet. I was happy that the transition was easier than I had anticipated.

Back to School

            On my first day of class I was too scared to even go. I saw college classes on TV and knew that they were large and the professors never seemed to be very kind. I had made some friends with the people in my mod but I wasn't really ready to venture out and walk to class alone. Since I was such a homebody I was nervous to walk around, eat, and be by myself. I was so excited for this new freedom that I was being given but once I had it I was too afraid to use it, but I needed to gain my independence and get to class before I was late.

Stephanie and I celebrating our birthdays together

            I was in a learning community with other students that were thinking about pursuing a teaching degree. Since we were in the learning community together we all had four of the same classes together, this created an environment for all the people in the learning community to become close to one another. When I walked into my first class, which was psychology 101, I sat in a seat in the lecture hall and waited for the professor to walk in the room. Another girl from my learning community came up and sat next to me. I had remembered her from the learning community meeting move in weekend her name was also Stephanie. We began talking about what we did over the weekend and how our transition to college was going when she asked me where I went to high school and I told her Big Walnut and she laughed and said that she went to Olentangy. This was ironic because our high schools were rivals, but we didn't let that keep us from becoming friends. I was thankful that Stephanie and I had almost all of our classes together because I now had a friend to walk to classes with. My learning community helped me to become friends with Stephanie and to this day we are roommates.

Ohio University classroom

            Beginning classes was a big step in finding my independence and learning to meet people outside of my mod. I was afraid to spend all this time by myself and walk around campus alone but now that I have been doing it for four years it’s no problem when I have to do it. I can talk to people easier and I’m no longer afraid to ask for help from all of the people that I have met. Being a student at a college like Ohio University has given me a chance to be alone and find out who I am and give me the confidence to meet new people.

           

Hanging out with Rufus at the football game

  The time that I spent here at Ohio University was four of the best years of my life. I never thought Athens would be a place that I called home and I know that I will be coming back here for every homecoming the rest of my life. A reading from class that helped me to realize what Ohio University meant to me was the essay “At Home in My Body: An Asian-American Athlete Searches for Self” an Asia-American girl couldn't seem to fit into the community that she was in because she was self-conscious about her heritage. By becoming part of the crew team and being part of their community she found herself in a community where she could be herself and belong. Her story reminds me a lot of some of the feelings that I was having when I began college. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to make friends and that I would be alone and not fit in with the other students. Once I got into this new community I didn't feel like that anymore and became a part of it. I’m not sure if every college makes you feel as comfortable and included so easily but OU did for me and I know that I chose the right college for me. It has made such a huge impact on my life from the first time that I stepped foot on the campus, to move in day, to my first day of classes all the way up until graduation. Most people could never say that they would miss the 15-minute walks to class in the snow, the musky smell of the bars, or attending classes, but I know that those are some of the things I’ll never forget. The Ohio University community has made me a stronger, more confident, and independent person, all the qualities that I was missing while I was in high school. Fitting into the Ohio University community has given me qualities that I will carry with me the rest of my life. I will forever be part of the OU community and will always call myself a bobcat.

“Every person is defined by the communities she belongs to.” 
― Orson Scott Card, Speaker for the Dead

References

Community. (n.d.). In Dictionary.com. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/community?s=t

Ohio University. (2012). Mission/Vision/Values. Retrieved from http://www.ohio.edu/focus/

OhioUniv. (2009, Jul 29). Word on the Street - Bobcat Student Orientation - Ohio University. [Video   Post]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReyhRUDYAnw

Torres, Allison. (n.d). At Home in My Body: an Asian-American athlete searched for self. In O. Edut (Eds), Body Outlaws (219-224). Unknown: Seal Press.