I was walking to my anthropology class on the second day of the new school semester. As I went up the stairs of Bullock Hall, I found a post it-note stuck to the wall. Written on the note was the phrase which read, “I love Derek” and included a brightly colored pink heart. I sighed in dismay and crumbled the note in my hand. This wasn’t the first note I had found today.
Since the beginning of the new semester, many upper classmen have noted their arrival. A friend described a particularly volatile incident in the food court at the Student Center involving two students “macking” while they paid for their lunch. Later on, she was jostled by two kids (and by kids I mean immature teenagers) randomly running all over campus as they played a game of tag. My own horrid experience came when I was waiting for some friends in front of Killam Library. I heard students walking out of the library as they sang their high school alma mater, waxed nostalgic over their Friday night football games, and discussed their freshman seminar class.
Maybe they are the incoming freshman or they might be the Early College students, I’m not sure, but this feeling of being in high school seems to be permeating the campus. It’s not just the fact that students wear their high school spirit t-shirts but some students don’t understand that their lives have radically changed. While the transition is rough, it may take some time for this high school feeling to dissipate. For all the upperclassmen on campus, don’t get annoyed. Remember, you were a freshman once.
Students have only been immersed in campus life for a little under two weeks. I admit it is quite encouraging to know that we have so many people attending our university; this promotes a more educated community and gives opportunities to many first generation college students, such as myself. However, I very strongly encourage all new students on campus to leave all their love notes, PDA, and random running sprees outside of our university.
With that being said, welcome to TAMIU, Class of 2014
(Christine Rojas may be reached at christine_r7@dusty.tamiu.edu)