WALK-ON/12TH MAN INFORMATIONAL MEETING
Tuesday, August 29, 2000
The locker room on the west side of Kyle Field
4:30 PM
. * MANDATORY ATTENDANCE
* MUST BE ENROLLED IN 12 HOURS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY AT COLLEGE STATION
* MUST HAVE STARTED COLLEGE NO EARLIER THAN THE FALL OF 98
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Page:
Freshmen
adjust to
college life
CAMPUS
Wednesday, August 2),i
THE BATTALION
Wednesday, August
By Richard Bray
The Battalion
The boxes are unpacked, the
walls are decorated, and parents
have climbed back into station wag
ons and gone home. Freshmen turn
from the familiarity of their homes
and face the daunting challenge of
getting to know their roommates
and adjusting to relationships and
challenges at Texas A&M.
One of the first things Angelique
Hopkins, a freshman aerospace engi
neering major, said she had to master
was learning how to get around the
University.
“In high school everything is
small, and everything is right there.
But you come out here, and none of
your classes are in the same build
ing, and you don’t know where you
are going,” she said.
Hopkins said another concern for
her was budgeting her time.
“I didn't study much in high school,
and I think I’m really going to have to
hammer down in college,” she said.
When it comes to classes and
studying, Dr. Mary Ann Moore, a psy
chologist for Student Counseling Ser
vice, said time management is the
most important academic difference
between high school and college.
“The material isn’t that much hard
er in college. There’s just more of it,”
she said. “So the key adjustment is
managing your time.”
Moore added that the variety of ac
tivities available in college can take
away from study time.
“It’s a lot of discipline because
there are so many distractions when
you get to A&M and you really have
to set aside study time,” she said. “In
high school most people didn't have to
do that, or they set a very minimal
amount of time. It’s important, espe
cially in your first semester, to try to
stay on top of school so you don't have
to play ‘catch up.’ ”
The ultimate challenge for incom
ing freshmen can be adjusting to a new
roommate. Moore said the daily habits
of roommates are small things that can
lead to conflict during the year.
“If they have never had [a room
mate] before, just making that initial
adjustment to having someone else go
ing to sleep at a different time and get
ting up at a different time and getting
used to all their different quirks can be
difficult,” she said.
Moore said many roommate con
flicts can be avoided if both parties are
willing to adapt.
“The biggest thing [students] can
do is try to be flexible,” she said. “The
more flexible you are, the easier the ad
justment is going to be.”
Conflicts will arise between room
mates. However, Veronica Gonzalez,
a resident adviser for FHK Complex
and a junior chemical engineering ma
jor, said few freshmen have difficulty
with their roommates.
“Most conflicts arise early, and we
try to work on it for about a week or
two,” Gonzalez said. “If things can’t
be resolved then we move them. It is
usually because of a lack of commu
nication and the small things building
up over time.”
Moore said the college change is
not limited to students — parents also
STUART VILLANUEVA/THEBATTAU
Michael Brzezinski, a freshman from Alvin, hugs his mothergoodbyi
Sunday. Brzezinski will be a member of the Corps of Cadets this fall.
must adapt to having a child in college.
“A lot of parents want to make sure
their child is happy or that they are
where they want to be, and they don’t
want to let them go — they want to
keep a close eye on them and some
times the student does not want that,”
she said.
Gonzalez said the first year can be
the roughest because new roommates
are not the only relationships that go
through ups and downs.
“There is the relationship with par
ents because you are no longer living
at home,” she said. “Freshmen have to
leam to become much more self-suffi
cient. But it is funny because when
freshmen come back in January, they
find that it was difficult being at home.
Even the sibling relationship gets
weird because [freshmen] have not
seen them all year and things change.”
Lisa Mers, hall director for the
FHK Complex, said residence halls
throughout campus will coordinate
several activities to ease the social tran
sition for freshmen.
“We try to focus on social functions
in the beginning just so we can build a
social base for the students, and then
we do educational programs,” she
said. “We really try to focus it towards
each individual hall and the needs of
the students in that building.”
Programs hosted by the residence
halls allow students to meet others in
their majors and fields. It also allows
them to set up study groups.
“My biggest advice 1 can offer for
freshmen coming in this fall is to keep
an open mind,” Gonzalez said. “You
are going to meet people you have
never met before, and they will be do
ing things that you are not used to. But
you have to remember that your main
goal is education, and you can’t lose
that focus.”
Welcome
Continued from Page!
Balkum said she did not expect W
men to compete with returning cadets ft
parking or resources becauseReste
Life is prepared for a busy move-in da;
The event today allows volunteers!
concentrate their efforts on helpingtk
freshmen and was intended to alleviat
overcrowding on Sunday, but otherelt-
ments influenced Residence Life’sdeci
sion to have an official welcome day,
“We wanted new students and par
ents to feel special and welcome and »e
thought this would be a good waytodo
it,” Sasse said. He attributed the success
of the program to the Aggies
to pitch in and help one another.
“If it is going to work anywhere,!
ought to work here,” Sasse said.
Dwyer, a graduate of the University
of Texas, said, “It is just to me wtii
A&M is all about. There is a cama
raderie that transcends age and status."
Dylan Misslin, a resident advisorii
Walton Hall and junior recreation, parts
and tourism major, said check-in
been a smooth experience thus far. Oftk
19 freshmen who will be livingonte
ramp, only five have arrived and hees
pects the rest to move in today.
“All of the RAs are excited about!
fish because they are the sprit of the cat
pus,” Misslin said.
The event only assists those living!
campus. Balkum said Residence Lit
currently has no arrangements to lid
off-campus freshmen.
“Once they get on campus, we
here for them,” he said.
Sasse said that if the program M
drawback, it would be that parents
unable to get time off work to helptl
students move in today.
Battalio
Beth Miller, Editor in Chief
Jeff Kempf, Managing Editor
Marium Mohiuddin, City Editor
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Noni Sridhara, Sci/Tech Editor
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Stuart Hutson, Aggielife Editor
David Lee, Opinion Editor
Bradley Atchison, Photo Editor
Cody Wages, Photo Editor
Jennifer Bales, Night News Editor
Beth Ahlquist, Copy Chief
Eric Dickens, Radio Producer
Brandon Payton, Web Master
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By Stuart Hui
The Battalion
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