EDUCATIONALLY SPEAKING -- Gay Geiser-Sandoval
School is out and the class of 2001 graduates now move on to the next
chapter in their lives. I asked my daughter, just back from her first
year at college, to pass along some words of advice. Some of you will be
going to community college by design and some because you goofed off in
high school. Some friends will go off to colleges throughout the United
States and will e-mail you with tales of what it is like to live in a
land without parents. They will be recounting wild nights in the dorm.
So, if you go to college, now is the time to get motivated. You will
determine your own destiny, and if you don’t get yourself to class, don’t
read the books and don’t study for the tests, you won’t have to worry
about what your major is going to be. You will get kicked out.
If you are off to a top-caliber school, plan on having a crisis in
confidence. In college, all of the kids are top-notch. None of your
teachers has ever heard of you. It’s a challenge figuring out where your
class is and what books to buy, much less how to get all of the
assignments done and how to study for the tests. Instead of letting panic
overtake you, decide you are as good as anyone else, and you too can make
it at this school.
Get involved in something you like and be committed to it. It gives
you an opportunity to meet people outside of your dorm who share a common
interest. Go to all of the dorm activities, including ski trips, dances
and fun nights. Remember, everyone else is as nervous about meeting new
people as you are, so don’t be shy, especially at the beginning. You will
regret it later if you do.
Decide what you will take to your dorm room and then take a lot less
stuff. Get a white board to put on your door for others to write you
notes. Don’t bring any books from home. Bring flip-flops for the shower.
Decide that you will get along with your roommate. You don’t really have
much of a choice, so you might as well make it a positive experience.
Once you get there, take a tour of the college library and find out
what secret resources it holds. It may have old tests from previous
classes to help you know what to study. Find a place in the library that
is quiet with no distractions and use it as your study and reading place.
There is too much to read. Read what is important and retain that part.
Skim over the rest.
Visit your teachers during office hours and ask them for help. Find
the tutors and ask them to read over your papers before you turn them in.
Leave yourself enough time to draft and redraft big assignments because
your college teachers won’t give you extensions like you got in high
school. Organize your time.
While you have known your high school friends for many years, it’s not
the same as living with them. If you go away to school, most of your
freshman year will be spent talking and learning how to live with others.
The people in your dorm will be your friends for life. You think you are
going to college to learn about science or computers or a subject. But,
after a year away at college, what you learn the most about is yourself.
At the end of freshman year, one student reflected that he felt he had
finally “found himself.” If he died today, he would be happy with the
decisions and choices he made.
College is about forming opinions and making choices because it is
what you believe, not because it is what your parents or teachers think
or tell you to do. You make decisions and choices by deliberate thought
instead of by default. Not all of your decisions will be correct, but
most college environments allow for some mistakes. It will be the best
year of your life.
* GAY GEISER-SANDOVAL is a Costa Mesa resident. Her column runs
Tuesdays. She may be reached by e-mail at o7 GGSesq1@aol.comf7 .
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