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Dorm
The Transition to Dorm Living
The official e-newsletter of The Equestrian College Advisor.
When the Clemson Eventing Team missed out on the 2016 U.S. Eventing Association Intercollegiate Eventing Championship win by less than a point, they vowed they would return to try again. They spent the next year planning and preparing, and they traveled back to the Virginia Horse Trials in Lexington, Va., this weekend ready to rise to the challenge.
Are you a young equestrian who exhibits exceptional leadership potential? Do you serve as a positive role model for your peers and demonstrate an ongoing commitment and dedication to the promotion of equestrian sport? How involved are you in the community, and do you feel you exemplify positive sportsmanship principles?
.
"For some of us, we are athletes, and this is undeniably a sport. For others, though, riding
is
a hobby. Those who ride as a hobby ride two times a week or even less perhaps. They are the people who take quiet trail rides or just ride around the ring for their own pleasure. There are also adults and kids who take lessons once or twice a week at a school barn, and for them, it is just a hobby.
There is nothing wrong with being one of those riders.
But for those people, it is not a sport."
The Transition to Dorm LivingYou’ve done it! You applied and were accepted to the college of your dreams and now you’re preparing to move into your freshman dorm room this fall. Congratulations!Undoubtedly you know full well that living in a college residence hall will be different from living at home with your parents, but exactly how different it will be may be a bit of an unknown. Here are some tips to help you plan ahead for the transition:
Stock up on comfort items. Your dorm room will be your home away from home for the next year so you should feel comfortable when you’re there. Perhaps a memory foam mattress topper or set of sheets made out of t-shirt material are priorities for you – or a great set of towels, a killer playlist of favorite tunes, or basket of your favorite snack foods. Whatever you need to make the room home should be at the top of your packing list.
Assess your computing needs carefully. A laptop or desktop computer are now considered essential items for the college-bound student, but what else will you need to aid your learning process? Many campuses feature tablet-enabled technology as well, so perhaps a tablet is a good investment if you don’t already have one, but a printer might be a waste of money and resources if your new campus allows generous print credits in its computer labs. Do your research before you purchase technology to take to school!
Ear plugs might be beneficial. Residence hall quiet hours vary from campus to campus (and even from residence hall to residence hall) and anytime you put several hundred young adults in the same building, you’re going to create a noisy environment. It’s just a given. Thus, if you’re a light sleeper or a student-athlete who requires a lot of shut-eye to play at your best, an investment in good ear plugs or another noise-canceling device might be a good one to make.
Open yourself up to the experience. Living in an on-campus residence hall will introduce you to a lot of new people from a wide variety of backgrounds in a way that you won’t experience anywhere else in your life. You won’t like everyone or even agree with them all the time, but learning to accept (and live with) those differences and cope with the challenges they present is just as much a part of your college education as what you’ll learn in the classroom. It won’t always be easy – but it will benefit you in the long run!
Leaving home to attend college is one of the many rites of passage you’ll experience over the course of your life and one that will present a lot of challenges – and just as many rewards. Plan carefully for it and then embrace it when it arrives. You won’t have another opportunity in your life to live so close to so many of the people who will soon be your closest friends!
