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Congratulations freshmen. You made it through your first year of college. It seems like this time of the year the accolades are being thrown at the graduates, and rightfully so, but I want to take the time to let you, the first year freshman, know how proud of you I am. You have made it through the first year of being away from home. No one said it was going to be easy, but here it is the last few weeks of the spring quarter, and you have made it. You should give yourself a pat on the back for your accomplishment. It was just about a year ago when you came to our campus for freshmen orientation. The student orientation leaders answered any questions you had and made you feel like a part of the Tech family. When you came back a few weeks later to start class, they were not at your side telling you what building was George T. Madison Hall — you had to find it on your own. Your mother and father were not there telling you to eat a balanced meal in the cafeteria every night. You figured out that a balanced meal was not French fries and a cheeseburger with everything on it after gaining 5 pounds in a week. You also had to learn the importance of the dollar. Whether your parents gave you an allowance every month or you had to earn money on your own, you now know that you can survive on about $20 for a week and a half. Good job. One of the most important things you have learned these past nine months is how to make friends. You didn’t realize that your social status in high school did not matter. Class nerds can turn into homecoming queens here. You have seen some friendships die while others have just started to bloom. Another important skill you may have learned is time management. Without time management you could not schedule study sessions and fraternity parities in the same night. Time management is not an easy thing to learn. The transition from high school to college is never easy, but here you are a year after you graduated from high school. Maybe you thought you were just going to stay here a year and then transfer, but all of the sudden you decided to stay. I want to say thanks for staying. We appreciate it. Or maybe you decided Tech isn’t the place for you, but you still wanted to make it through the year. Well a thank you goes to you as well. Even though you will not call Tech home anymore, you did not give up. To all the freshmen who never even thought about leaving, thank you. You never doubted Tech, and we love you for it. I know this first year wasn’t easy for you. Trust me, I was in your place a few years ago, but I made it through just like you. So next year when you are a sophomore and you see freshmen trying to figure out where their class is, lend them a hand because it wasn’t too long ago that you were in their shoes. Jordan Marshall is a junior journalism major from Shreveport, La. and serves as associate managing editor for The Tech Talk. E-mail comments to her at jordan21@gmail.com. |
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