Moving is always an event that’s full of emotions. The excitement and anticipation pumps through your veins at the thought of new things to come. New student Kylie Takamia felt these exact emotions as she stepped onto the airplane bound for Seattle Washington. As the six hour flight dragged on, the excitement slowly dissipated and anxiety took its place. Her hopes for a whole new experience seemed a lot more daunting as the hours grew longer and longer. She stared out of the airplane window into the dark, cloudy sky around her and suddenly felt so much more alone than she thought she would. This was supposed to be fun, going away to college was supposed to be where she leaves her boring old life behind and where she starts her shiny new life. But now, as she sat in the packed flight surrounded by strangers, she grew to wish she had never left the familiar security of home.
Now, eight weeks later, when asked what she had back home that she wished she had here, she replied with four simple words, “the feeling of belonging.”
Social connections and belonging are incredibly important factors when it comes to a college student’s overall mental health and academic success. Having a friend to talk to or just knowing that there is someone close by that you can turn to in times of need, can positively affect your psyche.
In 1943, American psychologist Abraham Maslow created the theory Hierarchy of Needs, a system that ranks human needs by order of importance. The order begins with physiological needs and bare necessities which include food, water, and shelter. Once these needs are fulfilled a person goes on to fulfill the next need, which is safety and security. After those needs are met, the hierarchy goes on to list belongingness which include friendships, relationships, and family, as the next prioritized need. It is very important that people have social connections because, without them an individual will find it hard to grow properly as a person, and can lead to low self-esteem and poor mental health.
Many students, both in and out-of-state, come from different walks of life, leaving behind their homes, friends, and everything they’re used to in order to attend Edmonds College. While some find it easy to adjust, others, who are less social or too busy to go out and make friends, are finding it hard to make connections. One way many people usually find friends is within their classes, but with the rise in online courses, some new students aren’t being given the opportunity to meet other people.
First-year student Takamia shared her experience, “I thought that I’d be able to meet people in my class but I take mostly online, it made me feel kind of lonely, I had no one to talk to really.”
When asked if she had roommates to talk to, she nervously laughed and responded, “I can’t even get to know my roommates since they’ve been here for two years already, they have friends to hang out with so they have no reason to hang out with me.”
“If I was placed in a dorm with another new student, maybe things might have been different,” Takamia said.
She isn’t the only new student who has had difficulties adjusting to the new environment. Another first-year, Eli Pacer, found himself lost when it came to meeting others. Unlike most new students who moved away from home to attend Edmonds, Pacer lives off campus with some distant relatives instead of in the campus dorms. To many, this may sound like a better deal but Pacer has some mixed emotions about it.
“It’s a bit of a double-edged sword I guess. On one hand I have my relatives to talk to but it’s not the same as having friends to connect with,” Pacer said.
While Edmonds College does facilitate social events for new students to meet others, such events are only made available to students living in the dorms, excluding students, like Pacer, who live off campus.
“I think if I could go to them I would,” he said. “Having friends gives you a sort of support system that you can’t get with family.”
Pacer also had some thoughts about what the school could be doing to help facilitate more connections among peers. He brought up the fact that many other colleges have a social media page, commonly Instagram, where new students can send in pictures and a small bio of themselves for the college to post. The college would then tag the student’s page where others can message them and get to know each other. Although Edmonds College does have multiple Instagram pages, none of them are utilized in a way where students can connect with each other.
“I was kind of confused, all of my other hometown friends went to colleges that had [Instagrams] where they could send in a little bio and stuff but Edmonds had nothing like that,” he said. “You’d think they would right? It would really help a lot.”