The four years of college seem to fly by, but when students look at old freshman pictures of themselves it seems so long ago. Making it through college is an impressive feat in, especially if you can do it all at the same school. No one stays the same throughout all four years of school, and that’s a good thing. Change brings new opportunities, new attitudes, and new outlooks on life in general.
One big form of change that occurs in college is a physical transformation. A student goes from being an 18 year kid to a 22 year old adult. When talking to former Head Men’s Soccer Coach Micah Middendorf he stated “I have seen kids come in weighing 110 pounds and leave weighing 160. Lifting, fitness, and eating all combine to make kids become adults in their four years here.” He of course is mainly talking about the athletes, who probably do undergo the biggest physical changes on campus. They start learning how to eat and lift weights properly, combined with what sport they play that can do a lot. I personally have gained 30 pounds since my freshman year, mostly muscle but some of it is thanks to the readily available food on campus.
People grow beards, change their hair, get tattoos, and anything else you can think of is done in college. Students are free from their parents for the first time ever and now get to make decisions on their own. Sometimes those are good decisions, other times the decisions can be questionable, but that’s what makes college fun.
According to University of La Verne “50%-70% of students will change their major once in college and most will change it 3 times before they graduate.” People change what they want to do in life, and that is to be expected. What a student wants to do coming out of high school as an 18 year old many times has nothing to do with their wants or interests as a 22 year old. When talking to Academic Advisor Katheryn Hill she commented that “students change everything in college, from their major to their hairstyle, it all changes. Most kids mature throughout college, and by that I mean they become smarter with their personal and life decisions.” The maturity factor is big. If a student wants to be treated like an adult, they have to treat others as one also.
College is a time of change, sometimes the change doesn’t go your way but that’s what life is about, getting up after you get knocked down. Whether or not you realize it, you are so much different that you were as a freshman, and if you don’t think so just look at a few old photographs and smile.
