Going off to college was an intimidating experience. For the first time, I was living away from home. I was in a dorm suite with seven guys I didn’t know. My best friend pledged at one of the fraternities, so we didn’t see much of each other during that first week. It could have been one of the worst experiences of my life.

I arrived on campus my freshman year and settled in to my dorm less than a week before the start of classes. Those days were torture. Surrounded by people I didn’t know, in a strange environment, I wanted nothing more than to go home. Then something strange happened. Just when I felt nothing could go right, some of the older guys in the dorm started throwing a Frisbee.

Soon, most of the guys and girls in the dorm gathered outside for the impromptu game. We talked. We learned about one another. Before long, someone suggested we all go to the movies. Minutes later, 17 of us were piling into cars to drive across town to the movie theatre.

Along the way, I discovered that two of the guys in the car shared my interest in comic books. They even offered to take me along to their favorite comic shop every week. I began to feel less alone. I started to feel like one of the gang.

We saw the latest horror flick. Everyone loved it. Afterward, we drove downtown to an old restaurant and overran an entire section. Our tables were crowded together, everyone talking and laughing. We ate chili nachos and swapped stories. By the end of the night, we were no longer a bunch of strangers prone to awkward silences. We were a crowd. We were “those guys.” We were now friends.

We had so much fun, we forgot that we were supposed to be missing our homes and families. The disaster that could have been my first college experience had been averted.

The following year, I felt that it was my responsibility to make sure that the freshmen students in our dorm had a similar experience. We included everyone, billing the event as the Second Annual Kuehne Hall Horror Movie Kick-Off Party. A group even larger than the previous year made the journey to the movies and the after-party at the restaurant.

It didn’t take a university-sponsored event or the work of the Student Life office to make a bunch of freshmen feel at home. All it took was a few upperclassmen who remembered what it was like to be the new kid on campus.

Remember about a decade ago when you left the protection of your parents’ wings for the first time for a half day of coloring, counting and napping? That was kindergarten – the time when your parents dragged you into unfamiliar territory and left you to survive on your own. You may have initially cried and stomped to display your disapproval, but chances are you became instant best friends with the first person you encountered at the Lego table. Your memory of the experience might be a little fuzzy, but I guarantee that five-year-olds weren’t mingling with only those in their exclusive social circle. Kindergarten was the time when everyone was the new kid, thrown into a room of strangers and left to thrive.

Welcome to the Club
Over the years, that chaotic classroom has evolved – not just because you’ve gotten older, but you and your classmates have come to identify with certain cliques of friends. Although movies often depict the jocks, drama freaks, skaters, hicks, goth kids and band geeks, you don’t have to look to Hollywood portrayals of cliques to understand how they work.

“For the most part, cliques are just a Hollywood stereotype of high school or a rare occurrence in real life,” said Abby Hauver, graduate of Lansing High School in Lansing, Kan. “Sure, people tend to hang out with a group of friends, but that has to do with being comfortable with people that are like you.”

Look around your high school cafeteria. Chances are you can categorize the lunchroom tables. People tend to gravitate toward those who look like them, act like them and do what they do. But the question is, do you really want people to assume they know who you are and what you’re all about based on a quick glance? One would hope not.

Exploring the Unknown
“A group of friends becomes a clique when it becomes exclusive and starts putting others down to make their group seem superior,” said Hauver. “A group of friends are just people who like hanging out with each other and feel comfortable around those people.”
Cliques sometimes provide security for people who aren’t completely confident in their own personality or haven’t made an effort to branch out. While it’s nice to have common interests with the people you spend time with, you can also explore and try new things by hanging out with a different crowd.

Whether you’ve been able to shoot three-pointers since you could stand or have starred in school drama productions since you learned to say, “To be or not to be,” now is the time to break out of the social restraints you have set for yourself. You’ll not only grow as a person, but you can also provide colleges with a more diverse admissions application.

Spread Your Wings
Since your time at high school is coming to an end, remember you’re truly going to leave your parents’ nest when you go off to college. This will be the opportune time for you to broaden your horizons. Just try to handle this transition a little bit differently than you did during kindergarten. No stomping or crying this round, but bring back the same assertiveness you had as a child. Make an effort to meet people from diverse backgrounds and people with different hobbies. Consider living in the college dorms. Join clubs. College is a fresh start at the Lego table.

Feeling comfortable on your new campus is vital to a smooth transition. However, this can seem like a daunting task.

You are no longer a nervous freshman, but you are changing schools and adjusting to a new environment. You’re probably also going to be attending a much larger university than your old community college. Don’t let this intimidate you.

This is your chance to really become a part of your university, not just another face in the crowd. Read on for some suggestions that will help make the shift from community college to university a little less intimidating.

Get to know your school
This will make it easier for you to meet people and feel at home. First of all, hit the Internet and do some research. Learn about the school’s traditions. Find out what the school song is, what they use for a mascot and what your new school colors are. You can even buy some t-shirts and sweatshirts with the school’s name and logo.

Find out about clubs and organizations
Most schools have a long roster of clubs for just about any major or interest. Join an art club, the student government, or put yourself on the committee for student activities. Whatever your interests are, there should be one available for you. Once you join, you will automatically have a network of people who enjoy the same things you do.

Put yourself out there
Talk to as many people as you can. This may be hard, especially if you tend to be shy, but you have to try. You won’t meet anyone if you don’t put yourself out there. Besides, there are probably tons of people just as nervous as you. By Marian Dodd, Staff Writer

Check out the teams
Athletic games provide a great way to socialize. Cheering on your school’s athletes will give you instant common ground with other students, plus it’s fun to be surrounded by a bunch of people rooting for the same team.

Volunteer
Volunteering is rewarding, but it is also a great way to meet people. When you volunteer, you meet other people who live on or around your new campus. It can also give you perspective about the area in which you go to school. As an added bonus – it’s great for that all important resumé.

Expect the unexpected
Don’t set yourself up with a lot of ideas about what your new school will be like. Be open to different people and new experiences. You’ll learn a lot of things and meet some great people.

Now go out there and make your new university your home. Don’t forget to show some S-P-I-R-I-T along the way!

For most first-year college students, a collegiate learning environment is almost appallingly different than high school. There’s more academic pressure. Your assignments are more demanding, plus you’re adapting to a new social environment and possibly new living arrangements. With all of these challenges staring you down your freshman year, we thought you could use some suggestions for making the transition to your new academic life a little easier.

First day jitters
Go to campus a few days before your classes start. Look at your schedule and plan out your day according to the buildings. Don’t worry, just take things one at a time and you will be just fine.

Succeed in classes
Actually going to class is a plus. This might sound like common sense, but you will be surprised at how tempting it is to skip. A lot of teachers give three free absences, and some don’t even take attendance, but just because your teachers don’t keep track of your attendance doesn’t mean it won’t affect your grade.

“College is an investment; you want to put in as much as possible,” Andrew Sison, Dean of Admission at Lewis University, said. “You won’t be able to enhance your grade if you’re not there.”

Note taking
If you have a laptop, take it to class. A lot of schools offer free wireless Internet on campus. You can probably type faster than you can write. Otherwise, take notes by hand. Don’t try to write everything down – you won’t absorb as much information. Try to stick to key points. Check to see if your teacher posts notes online.

Keep a planner
Keeping track of various projects and assignments can be difficult if you aren’t organized. If you have a planner, you can easily prioritize your assignments and plan your time accordingly.

“Time management is one of the most important things when entering college,” Sison said. “You need to be able to give yourself a time-line.”

Stick to small classes Having classes in big lecture halls makes it tempting to skip or just not pay attention. You have more opportunities to ask your professor for help in small classroom settings.

Talk to your professors Visit with your professors during their office hours. This will help you build relationships with your professors and make it easier to ask questions.

“It’s important that students are open to talking to their professors,” Sison said. “They’re more than professors, sometimes they’re your advisors.”

Helpful tips:

• Find your classes before they start
• Go to class, even if there is no required attendance
• Use a planner
• Try to enroll in small classes
• Take advantage of your resources
• Shop around for textbooks

The story was first presented to me in AP English class. It was in one of those big, short story anthologies – what some literature instructors refer to as a canon, though it seemed flatter and much less threatening than a piece of artillery to me. The piece was called Harrison Bergeron. The author was Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. And, I hated every word of it.

To start with, the language was too simple. Straightforward. Almost conversational. Second, the story line itself was borderline ridiculous: Sometime in the not-so-distant future, all Americans are finally created equal. No one is permitted to be any more talented or beautiful than anyone else, so certain handicaps are placed on those with exceptional qualities.

For instance, if you were to display a talent for dancing, the U.S. Handicapper General orders your legs to be weighted down. Or heaven forbid, if you were beautiful, you would be asked to wear a mask to hide your favorable appearance.

Even the names of the characters troubled me. Harrison Bergeron. Diana Moon Glampers, the U.S. Handicapper General. I labored through the story, faked my way through in-class discussions and forgot about it for the next three or four years.

But it’s funny how things come full-circle. I went on to study the art and craft of writing in college. I made friends with other literate people and before long, a buddy let me borrow Vonnegut’s classic novel, Slaughterhouse-Five. From the day I turned the cover, I have consumed everything Vonnegut, including Harrison Bergeron, which surprisingly ends with a climatic dance that is elegantly written, not as clumsy like this letter.

It was clumsy of me to dismiss Vonnegut so quickly. What had little or no meaning to me at all my senior year of high school is now a source of inspiration and part of what defines me as a writer today. And, tomorrow. So it goes.

A number of the articles in this issue of KEY are about more than just what’s happening in your life now. They are about setting a clear path for your future. Whether you’re reading Five Ways to Determine What College is Right for Me, Utilizing Your Financial Aid Options, or Do Test Prep Books Really Work?, our writers have faced these issues personally and want to help you make the best decisions.

In that sense, you can view our magazine as a canon of college information. Something inside these pages may be meaningful to you down the road or in the distant future, where everyone is finally created equal. And so on. To infinity.

To you, it’s a fun way to keep in touch with friends, tell everyone the highlights of your weekend or meet new people. To an employer or college club advisor, Web sites like MySpace and Facebook are research tools used to level the playing field.

Keeping in touch
Social networking sites are a great way to keep in touch with friends, no matter where you live. Checking out online entries of friends who are going to school far from your hometown can make you feel like you’re still a part of their life. After all, you can post blog entries, pictures, video and music on the site so everyone knows what you’ve been up to lately and what your interested in now.

Meeting new people
Many people also use social networking sites to meet new people. They can search user profiles to find people that meet certain criteria such as age, location, relationship status and common interests. If you know someone’s full name, you can even search for their specific site.

A word to the wise
While these sites can be fun and entertaining, beware what you post. Something you might find amusing could be seen as distasteful by others. You never know who’ll be searching the Internet to find out more about you.

“There are a lot of different audiences out there who might be accessing the information you put out,” said Andy Schadwinkel, Assistant Director of the Office of Admissions at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “I think Facebook or myspace can be helpful or useful tools, but you have to be mindful of which audiences can use it and put your best face forward at all times.”

You never know when a college professor might check your Facebook page to verify that you really did miss class because you were at a family reunion and not just worn out from a long weekend of partying. Are you interested in getting into a prestigious college honor society? The group’s membership committee could check out your myspace to learn more about you. If you’ve posted items of a questionable nature, these organizations might not deem you worthy for membership.

In a conference this May, members of the Tennessee Association of Colleges spoke with employers who said they’ve used social networking sites to research potential employees. Inman Otey, Tennessee State University Career Center Director said employers reported that they didn’t continue the interview process and even decided not to offer jobs to candidates who had inappropriate content posted on their sites.

Use these powers for good, not evil
While its true that content posted on social networking sites can come back to haunt you, these sites can also help you get into highly competitive organizations or land a coveted internship.

Schadwinkle said these sites are a great way for organizations to gain positive information about students.

“They can show the way they interact with people,” he said. “It can show they care about friends and networks and enjoy getting involved with other people.”

Regardless of what you post on the Internet, just remember: what you post today can be accessed for years to come. If you would be embarrassed by your grandma or church pastor seeing something about you on Facebook or Bebo, you’re probably better off not posting it.

Sidebar
Work it! How to use social networking sites in your favor

Inman Otey, Career Center Director at Tennessee State University offers students the following advice about positive things students can post on their myspace of Facebook sites to help them get into top organizations or land awesome internships:

• Present a poised and put-together image through well written posts and appropriate photos.
• Showcase your skill sets and talents so college organizations and potential employers see you in a favorable light.
• Elaborate on extracurricular involvement in activities like athletics, theater, campus ministry, etc.
• Highlight involvement in community service and your work experience.

I was never great at making quick choices. I’m someone who likes to deliberate on things a bit. I’m more likely to go my own way. I’m not Coke or Pepsi, I’m like Fresca, see? So I’m heading into my first year of college and it seemed like I was overwhelmed with decisions:

• Where was I going to live?
• Where’s the best eats?
• Where do I spend my time between classes?
• Should I talk to that girl who keeps looking at me?
• Boxers or briefs?

My head was beginning to spin and I had barely started the ride.

Like most colleges, the university I chose to attend made a lot of effort to get students to meet and start forming new friendships. I would cautiously attend these lunches and meetings where leaders of campus organizations would try and convince you that you would make a good member of their team. It was like a fraternity rush without the Greek letters and oddly-fitting togas.

There were a lot of good groups at these gatherings, but at this point, I was looking for something more like camaraderie. The camaraderie of a fraternity at such a large school seemed chaotic, especially during rush week. It just didn’t feel personal to me.

I was looking for something different – something less structured, but more self-determined.

So some new friends and I were talking (actually, it was more like complaining) about how belonging to some groups would require too much time or too much money. The room eventually turned quiet. Most organizations just didn’t seem to address things that about which we were individually passionate. Then a friend said, “Wait, why do we have to join anything? I’m looking for unique things to do, not something conventional.”

Before we knew it, we all had cut the cord and decided to be independent students.

To me, being an independent student doesn’t mean you’re not involved or that you keep yourself separated from students that are affiliated with official organizations.
Far from it. We were merely more interested in dictating how our skills and talents would help us through school and after school. Our decision was made in the interest of leading, rather than being led. So eventually, we went from being independent students to being independent student organizers.

As independents, we were the kids on campus that used our education and resources to start small businesses, form our own action groups or organize concerts. My own small group started a graphics lab to design T-shirts and stickers to promote any idea we were interested in.

Together, we published a free monthly magazine dedicated to local art and music. We organized evening poetry readings that got many students out of a stifling classroom setting and into clubs with dim lights and music accompaniment.

Our largest undertaking – Springpeace, a celebration of music, activism and campus renewal – taught me the most about what independent students can accomplish if they set their minds to it. Picture 10 kids with no official campus affiliation rigging an 8,000 watt PA system, two stages, 14 booths for campus groups and a food wagon – all set up in the center of school grounds, ready to blast for two days. And we did it without a single dime from the university, or any campus organization.

Today, I realize that doing things my own way helped give me an edge on things that mattered after school was over with. Being an independent student doesn’t mean you’re in danger of coming out of college with a degree and a blank resumé from missed opportunities. You have the freedom to make your own opportunities.

If you feel as I did, that there just wasn’t a perfect affiliation to match your passions, I would encourage you to forge your own path. College doesn’t have to be conventional and independent does not have to mean “alone.”