It feels strange to reminisce about freshman year. It feels as if it were just yesterday but since then two years have passed. When I was moving onto campus, I was nervous, scared, and excited all at the same time. But having been a part of Civil Air Patrol, the Official Auxiliary of the United States Air Force, throughout high school, gave me the opportunity to travel and get away from home for weeks at a time over my summers doing all kinds of fun yet stressful things. What that taught me is that to survive, thrive and not lose your mind you need to make a quasi-family. The “family's” (friends) that I made then still are with me today and I still stay close.

But starting college, I quickly found my close friends would have to be mostly made of up people in my major; being an aviation flight major turns already dedicated people into a person who can talk for hours about aviation and never stop. I was fortunate enough to have my roommate be an aviation major as well, that was my first stepping stone that made creating a school family perfect, we always hung out and no matter what had each other's back, and now being in our junior year that bond is the same. Aaron and I are like brothers. As time went on, it seemed that everyone in my year and my major, in general, all became a family and I am blessed to have countless brothers and sisters at school. We will always have each other's backs.

The one thing that I knew would be missing while at school is a parent figure. Thankfully, it was not long until all of my fellow aviation majors and I found out that our Department Chair and Chief Pilot Andy would soon become a father-like figure to us It is great having a stern, yet accepting adult, someone who is not afraid to tell you that you have failed, but will always follow through with what you need to do to get better. Andy also makes sure to praise us when we succeed and it is amazing to see that he is truly proud when any of us succeed.

Overall the main recommendation that I would make to anyone that is moving away from home for the first time or starting college is to make a friend family. You need to have people that are going to be close and people that you can support when they need it and they will most certainly return the favor. Enjoy building this quasi family as I know they will be with you for life.