August 22 marked 20 years since I arrived on campus at Slippery Rock. I remember the morning very well. It was late summer, overcast, and humid. We had already seen the campus a few times to go to orientation, schedule my classes, and to take a look at the place. This was officially the day that I was moving into my dorm room.
We had a team of helpers at Kraus Hall ready to help the incoming students move into their new rooms. This group of volunteers was known as the Welcome Team. They all had matching shirts on and waited for the new students to arrive. My room in Kraus was on the second floor and every floor had two separate resident assistants. These were equivalent to the dorm counselors we had at Hiram G. Andrews Center. Our dorm also had a basement floor which also housed study areas as well as washing machines (make sure you have quarters ready).
After we got my stuff moved in, my family and I went off to Grove City and visited the Outlets. We also had lunch at Eat’n Park. I was taking it all in, just as I had done three years earlier when I moved into the Hiram G. Andrews Center. Slippery Rock was going to be a different beast entirely, though.
Time to open up a six-pack of facts covering my journey to Slippery Rock University.
- I chose Slippery Rock over other great schools like IUP and Edinboro.
- Some things had to happen in order for me to get housing for the upcoming Fall semester.
- I came up a few days prior to moving in and picked up my books and even got to check out my new residence hall.
- For my first year, I would be residing in Kraus Hall, which was a residence hall that housed transfer and nontraditional students.
- The Fall semester was going to be more about me finding my way on campus.
- I experienced plenty of growing pains that semester, as well as during my first year at Slippery Rock University.
Some of the highlights from my first semester at Slippery Rock included making new friends, and some of them were also local. I even got to reunite with a few that I went to high school with. Our first weekend on campus was a weekend of fun and games. We got to check out the baseball park, have a block party, and watch a movie under the stars. I joined a Christian organization my first week on campus and got involved right off the bat. I even got the opportunity to attend an event (Fall Retreat) at Camp Sequanota, a summer camp near and dear to my family.
I also had some disappointing moments during my first semester, as well as my first year on campus. One of them was that I fell behind in classes, especially my major. I was more interested in having a social life and didn’t realize that I was no longer a college freshman, but now a fourth year student.
When I was at HGA, I met a girl who had just arrived on campus (she had come back after a brief sabbatical) and we easily clicked. I hoped to repeat that same feat at Slippery Rock but it didn’t turn out the same. It seems that a fourth year senior at Slippery Rock has different priorities than someone coming back to the Hiram G. Andrews Center to take a diploma course. My feelings got the best of me and eventually, she said no and broke my heart. I should have seen it from the get-go but I was in love. You live and you learn.
If you’ve ever heard the phrase “poor college student”, please understand that the struggle is real. That first year on campus, I wasn’t broke but I wasn’t working as much as I should have. The lack of work experience in college would hurt me later on after graduation.
In Toastmasters, we give evaluations to our speakers to highlight what we liked about the speech. We also provide suggestions for improvement. How could I have improved that first semester and made it less painful?
One suggestion for improvement was that I could have asked for advice from my cousins who have had experience attending a bigger college campus. I could have taken time in Spring and Summer months to prepare myself for what was to come. I could have joined less organizations and focused more on my studies. I could have joined a study group (which probably would have helped me in my major). The list goes on.
I enjoyed my time at the Rock but that first year taught me a lot. Knowing what I know now, the experience was still worth it. If I dropped out after a year, I would have likely regretted it and thought “what if”. College was always a safe space for me for years and that’s why I longed to go back after holiday breaks. Homecoming would become a longstanding tradition for me for years even after I finished school.
That first year saw me swallow a large dose of humility, and I’m glad it did. Things eventually worked out later on.
Stylish 🍒 