It was the spring of my senior year in high school. Everyone knew where they were going except for me. I hadn’t gotten any letters of acceptance from any other schools. This was probably because I didn’t apply to any other schools other than Longwood University, so I was patiently waiting for some feedback. Then finally I got the thick envelope in the mail letting me know that I’d been accepted to the only school I wanted to attend. Needless to say, I was ecstatic.
Then I sat down with my parents, where I was informed that my dad had just been laid off. We didn’t have much wiggle room for spending money, so I chose to go to John Tyler Community College in Midlothian, Virginia instead, which was a huge disappointment at the time. I wasn’t going to be with all my friends and I wasn’t going to have the true college experience. Two years of my life went right down the drain.
Then I actually attended community college. As I always do, I expected the worst, but community college turned out to be one of the better decisions I’ve made. I saved money, made awesome friends, and did well in my studies. Nothing to complain about.
Finally it was time to transfer to Longwood; a new school, a new atmosphere and a new everything. How am I supposed to fit in at Longwood as a junior who doesn’t know anyone? I hadn’t been that scared in a long time. I felt so unprepared and I was afraid I wouldn’t fit in.
For my first couple of days, the only people I was comfortable calling my friends were my roommates. They were the first people I met and turned out to be really swell people. While we’d normally go out to eat together, I’d sometimes find myself eating lunch by myself because, again, I didn’t know anyone. Nothing is worse than the feeling you get when you walk into a room and you do not know a single person. That’s what I felt like at first and I thought I’d feel that way forever.
Thankfully, I was wrong and in a matter of days, I had a close-knit group of friends who helped me get myself on my feet in the unfamiliar environment. We had all of our classes together because we were part of the same major, so it was super easy getting to know them. But I still felt that I wasn’t doing enough. All of my friends were part of some sort of organization and I wanted to become a part of it all too.
In what felt like a blink, I was a member of Longwood’s radio station, WMLU 91.3 FM and began contributing to this very newspaper, The Rotunda. Now, I have my very own radio show called “Between the Pipes” and am an official staff member of The Rotunda. The complete transformation from transfer student to what I am now took almost no time at all and that’s because of the awesome environment that Longwood provides.
While it’s typically horrifying to adapt to new surroundings, I couldn’t have asked for a better place to adjust than Longwood. Being a transfer student may seem “weird,” but before you know it, you’ll be a true Longwood student and have found your place here just like I did.
