For me, moving into college as a freshman felt a lot like moving into a new house — been there, done that. That might sound strange, but given the number of times I have moved (nine times since my sixth birthday) starting over as a freshman in a completely new school felt like a no-brainer for me. I'm a military kid who is very much used to starting over, and it wasn’t hard for me to ease my anxiety about being in a new place.
Growing up military wasn’t easy. But for me and my fellow military kids, military life has only made college and life beyond so much easier.
First, moving in and out of dorms and apartments is easier. After PCSing about a million times, you get pretty good at packing your bags and preventing movers from breaking your valuables. We can make any space your home, whether it is a hotel room, a TLF, or a new house that we're not really fond of. Getting comfortable in our new dorm or apartment is a breeze.
Resiliency is a key word in the military. It means coping, recovering, and adapting when you face a challenge - and military kids know challenge. And while others may hesitate or falter in the face of change, we accept it and thrive off it. We don’t always know what to expect in life, but we’re okay with that because we know we can handle it. Whether it’s a parent being deployed, moving to a new state, or just having loads of homework and exams, military kids come to college equipped with the tools to get through it all without a scratch.
Being military, you grow up with a variety of people of differing races, cultures, religions, abilities and backgrounds. We are given the power and tolerance to accept people for who they are. In college, we are met with the same variety of people, and this doesn’t faze us. In fact, we embrace diversity. We know that a person's character is most important and that our differences are things to be accepted. There is no room for bias and discrimination with us.
Being a military kid also means you know to how to speak up. After years of being the new kid and having to fend for ourselves, we know that sometimes we have to put our own welfare first. We know when it's important to defend ourselves because we know what really matters. College tests the life lessons we have learned because of being military. We know that we have to create the best environment for ourselves to do well, even if that means doing something uncomfortable, like meeting with the rudest professor we have, or daring to ask for an extension on an assignment.
Finally, military kids are patriotic. We were raised to respect the flag, the anthem, and the differences of everyone in our country. We feel the same about our universities — we may all be different, but we are united as one group.
