Like the evolution of man we also have the evolution of college student. College is funny in a few different ways. You graduate from high school and then suddenly, like magic, we're freshman again! How is this fair exactly? Then there's the part when you become a senior in college and you think to your self, "there's no way we were that immature, stupid and tiny when WE were freshman." Sorry sweety, but, you were.
There's a few different ways that we all change going through our college years. Some get a new hair cut, others change majors and a few of you might even say no to college. The one thing we all have in common - how we we look at each other and the world from freshman to senior.
Freshman year we're all eager and nervous to get onto campus and start a new. This is the time to be someone new and to try everything. You may end up having the perfect experience and doing everything you expected or things might be a little different then how you envisioned them. One thing that I have always found interesting is the way in while freshman look at and up to seniors.
Freshman (or frosh) see seniors as these big experienced, all knowledgable and overwhelmingly cool individuals. They know all the good spots on campus. They are legal to drink. They are taking classes that are actually interesting in their majors. In the end, they are just bigger and badder.
Seniors on the other hand are equally eager and nervous about their very own next step into the real world and all things terrifying. They (usually) have no idea what they want to do with their lives, they don't know who they will be working with, where they will be living and generally how they are going to get there.
In other words - they don't have time to talk to freshman and teach them their ways. This can sometimes come off as offensive and off putting once. It seems that this is the best way to take seniors off of that pedestal.
I wish there was a way to describe this when I was a senior, working as the recruitment chair for my team, defending my senior classmates and teammates about their attitude towards the young ones. It wasn't that they didn't want to, rather, it hadn't really crossed their mind as a priority in the scheme of everything else!
My final two cents:
To the freshman, I would like to apologize for my upper class constituents and ask that you be patient. The best way that I can explain is by asking you to travel three months back in time to when you were called "senior" and couldn't bare to look at the freshman. College is amazing because age becomes less of an issue but at the same time we all have those four years between us. Try to be brave enough to ask for help.
To the seniors, I ask that you look at the freshman and give them a chance. Try to remember how truly clueless and curious you were at this time. Anyone who has been to college is able to at least try and relate to the day you found the best short cut through campus or discovered the ultimate study spot. Those are the first days of someone even more exquisite. Try and be that senior that you aspired to be even in your final days.
