Part I: A Freshmentality

The dawn of a new year is upon us once again. For the returning students, seeing the old sights of places like Silent Joe, the Memorial Union and William Allen White Library can bring a rush of nostalgia, sometimes followed by high levels of stress.

But freshmen have a different kind of stress. Their stress does not stem from realizing that the toils of another school year are here, but from the fact that most of them are in a very unfamiliar place. They are separated from their parents, tossed into the sea of college and are forced to either sink or swim.

Four such freshmen are Lei Zhang, Will Smith, Meghan Murray and Caroline Murray.

Meghan and Caroline Murray are two twin sisters who hail from down the road in Olpe. They decided to come to Emporia State because it is close to home, and like Olpe, is small enough to have a down-home atmosphere.

“I liked that it was one of the smaller universities because that’s what we’re used to,” Meghan said. “It would be an easier adjustment.”

Between the two of them, they participated in just about every activity their high school had to offer: Student Council, forensics, theater, volleyball, track and cheerleading, just to name a few.

“I’m excited to meet a lot more people,” Caroline said. “In Olpe, we never really met anyone, we just got really close to them. I think it will be fun to meet people and have a large group of friends so that you don’t always have to be with the same people every single weekend.”

Meghan and Caroline are no strangers to ESU. Their mother is Jacquelyn Murray, an instructor for Newman Division of Nursing. They also plan to go into different fields. Meghan is studying biology, while Caroline is working toward a degree in secondary education.

“I wanted to do speech language pathology, it’s like speech therapy,” Caroline said. “I’ll have to transfer to K-State, but I can get a degree here in education. You have to have four years and then you go apply to the school.”

The twins are also already used to their roommates, because they are rooming together. Even their room at home is approximately the same size, so they are very comfortable with their new surroundings.

“I would rather be together,” Meghan said. “I think it will make school easier. We can still meet people, we can meet everyone on the floor, but it’s nice to go somewhere that you know is private to you and comfortable.”

The girls are jumping straight into school, with Meghan taking some of her biology and chemistry courses and Caroline trying to get some general education classes out of the way. One thing that they are nervous for, however, is the trouble they will have in finding their independence from each other.

“It’s kind of the same because we’re still the twins,” Meghan said. “We’re not really separate, which kind of stinks sometimes. You want to be your own person, have someone actually know your name… We’ve already had some people say, ‘alright, we’re just going to call you the twins.’”

Another new name to ESU is Will Smith. No, not the famous Hollywood actor, but the freshman from Wylie, Texas.

“It’s a big change, coming from Texas to here, with a lot of flat land,” Smith said. “To be honest with you, I thought it would have been boring, because it’s out in the middle of nowhere. That’s not the reason why I came here though – I just want to get an education.”

Smith is studying criminology and his ultimate goal is to be a U.S. Marshall. He is cousins with Kameron Gee, a football player here at ESU, and lives in the co-ed dorms of South Towers, which he finds to be a very friendly experience.

“It’s real tight, everyone comes up to our floor, even North Tower comes up to our floor,” Smith said. “I think we have the best floor out of all of the floors there, so I’m lucky out on that part… there was a room with probably 10 people, girls and guys, just chilling.”

Smith lives about six or seven hours away and, like many freshmen who live a long distance away, he said he feels homesick. Although he gets along excellently with his new roommate, he still misses his old room and his parents.

“They’re actually really happy for me,” Smith said. “It’s saddening, but they’re really happy that I’m out and going to school, so it doesn’t matter… They actually called me today and yesterday. My mom and my dad (were crying.) I was crying, too. I’m not going to lie. I’m from Texas, it’s so far away. Maybe if I lived in Topeka or something, it wouldn’t be bad.”

For all four years of high school, Smith ran track and currently trains with the ESU Cross Country Team. He is considering doing track here, but has much higher expectations for himself after his college experience.

“I expect for me to become a man, I guess,” Smith said. “I’m not going to be babied by my parents anymore, so after college I’ll be a man, really… I’m excited. I’m ready to grow up and become a young man, living on my own, you know?”

ESU is known for its large international student population, of which Lei Zhang is a new member. Zhang is a Chinese student who attended Polytechnic University, but now must complete the Intensive English Program before she can start taking classes for her business studies.

“I hope I can start my start my major classes and get my diploma,” Zhang said. “I also hope I can enrich my life and make some new friends.”

Zhang came here with her roommate, Ziwei Li, on Aug. 9. Since then, they have moved from their temporary dorm room in the Towers to their more permanent residence in Trusler. She plans to be in Emporia for three or four years and has already met new friends.

“I met a lot of new friends, and not just Americans,” Zhang said. “I’ve met Japanese, Korean, and some from Indonesia… I think it is real interesting and I think we can get some things that are new that I would never get otherwise,” Zhang said.

As is common with many freshmen, Zhang has found that it is not very easy to be so far from home.

“It is very hard without my friends and parents because if I had some problems, I could tell them,” Zhang said. “But instead, I must solve this problem myself and not with them. So I think it will be better for me than there, but I think I can adapt to this and do my best.”