Friends

Having attended private and college preparatory schools my whole life, I didn’t have much fear coming to Chapman. I was never too concerned with my academic performance, because I knew that if I wanted to do well, I could use the school’s resources to aid me. To be honest, most of what I was curious about regarded how and who I was going to meet. Throughout high school I had a small group of friends. After four years I had noticed that we had grown so close to each other and adopted traits of each others personalities. Coming to college, I knew that the people I made friends with could shape the rest of my life, so it scared me to think about how making friends: both random and in your control; had so much influence on shaping my being. Having been at Chapman for a semester I learned that it was not in my best interest to worry. Like-minded people find each other, and usually its just a matter of time. Meeting new people does require an amount of optimism and open mindedness, and especially with a small school like Chapman, finding the people you mix with shouldn’t take long. It is scary to reflect on the friends I’ve made here, because they have already shaped the course of my life. I’ve made the intention to surround myself with people who will better me, and I believe it is in everybody’s best interest to do so as well.

The students I worked with at Orange High did not seem to be too concerned with College. The only legitimate concern was from a girl about dorming. She seemed anxious about the idea of living with a random person, which is complete reasonable. She seemed to pretty instantly want to live alone, however that desire caught my attention. I feel that although dorming with someone initially can be an uncomfortable thought, the reality of doing so can be an invaluable learning experience. College is the time to grow into your best self, whereas I think running away from personal issues in college may come back to haunt you later in life. Living with someone else has taught me so much about myself, and college provides the limited time opportunities to put yourself in a position to make mistakes but still grow from them. I think that one should try and pursue discomfort as optimistically as possible in college, and it will pay off tenfold.