Column: A welcome home
A member of Leadership Safari staff talks to a newly moved-in student and their parents by the Education and Human Services Building in this Aug. 23, 2002, file photo. (CM Life photo | Nate Pappas | file)
New things are scary. Like really scary (or maybe I’m just a wimp). Starting college is no different; I expected everything to feel big and intimidating and constantly new.
And in some respects it is: My high school graduating class was somewhere between 160 and 170, so not knowing everyone I see as I pass them took a while to get used to. But what I realized after my first semester is that CMU only gets smaller.
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The places where you spend your time will be confined to a small, comfortable list; names become familiar; and I’ve had the same professor for so many classes we’re on a first-name basis.
That’s not to say it won’t be weird at first, it was definitely weird. I got to campus two days before classes started my freshman year and spent the weekend trying to locate all of my classrooms.
That turned out to be worth the time, after searching for the library was a 30-minute endeavor (it was straight down the sidewalk). I have since learned to read a map.
Social circles also get smaller. You’d think with over 14,000 students you wouldn’t run into the same people over and over, but you really do. The people who share majors and survive the same classes together become a welcome sight, and I’d recommend developing friendships with them early on.
It’s no secret that new environments are special challenges for some people for any variety of reasons, and that’s not a struggle I would dismiss. Finding a safe space is really important and not always as easy as it should be. But formally or informally, there is space for everyone here.
There are so many people you haven’t met yet who will love you, and places to fall in love with. There’s a reason my CMU acceptance letter came with a sign that said “welcome home.” This is a home -- we just have to find where we fit.
Lauren Rice is Central Michigan Life's 2024-25 editor-in-chief.
