"No matter what you are dealing with as a college student, finding one person can completely change your life." - Productions Editor / Katie Thorn
College is hard. From the overwhelming amounts of classwork to the need to balance a good social life and academics, college brings a variety of difficulties that can be hard to overcome as a young adult. In the midst of the average college struggles, there is the addition of figuring out who you are, what you stand for, what you want your future to look like, and so much more.
Being a young college freshman, I walked onto Rowan’s campus completely unaware of what the future would hold for me. I came onto the Glassboro campus as a transfer student and was struggling to find my confidence. All throughout high school, I felt like I had everything put together, but after my first semester at my old school, I was completely shaken up. Entering Rowan, I was truly a shell of a human being, just trying to get through my spring semester.
Spring turned to summer and summer turned to fall, and I eventually had to start getting ready to go back to school in September 2024. Little did I know that the school year ahead of me would truly change my life.
As the school year is coming to an end, I can confidently say I have learned a multitude of lessons throughout the last eight months. While the lessons I learned this year can go on forever, there is one that really sticks out. That being said, when you find your people, you will eventually find yourself.
As a hopeful sophomore with one semester at Rowan under my belt, I walked into Bozorth room 108 ready to take on a new role as Productions Editor for The Whit. Not knowing a lot of people, for the first few Whit meetings, I kept to myself, and I just trekked through the first few months of school. My confidence was low, and I was just trying to get through school and get to my 2027 graduation.
I was quite shy and to myself for the first few months at The Whit, but that would quickly change completely. As I started meeting more and more Whit members, and I started to become friends with them, I started to feel like I truly belonged, a feeling I hadn’t had since high school.
For the last few amazing months, I have been building my friendships with the people in the newsroom, and I can confidently say that through finding these people, I have started to find myself. Their kind compliments have helped me battle imposter syndrome, the inside jokes have made me feel wanted, and their confidence in me has given me newfound confidence, and that is simply priceless.
No matter what you are dealing with as a college student, finding one person can completely change your life. College is such a scary time, and going through it alone can be nothing short of daunting and overwhelming. Part of young adulthood is figuring out the woes of what you stand for and who you are, and by finding your people, you will eventually start to piece together who you really are.
It is officially the end of the semester, which means the majority of people I’ve befriended in the Whit room are graduating and turning a new leaf. While their graduation is bittersweet, and I can’t help but shake the feeling of how much I will miss them, I can’t forget the way that they have helped me find who I am as a person. I know that hundreds more students will walk into Bozorth 108, and I will continue to build more friendships and continue to find who I really am.
As the song, “Find your people,” by Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors goes, “You can’t go in alone, everybody needs help. You gotta find your people, then you’ll find yourself.”
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