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What first-years can expect in their first year
 
By Jan McCoy Ebbets
 
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Perhaps you know her. Kate Zondlo of Morgantown, West Virginia, is a Smith College first-year. She's already been published in Newsweek with a "My Turn" essay making the case for treating teenagers with more respect. She spent the summer before college as a counselor to junior and senior Girl Scout cadets at a camp in Pennsylvania. She thinks
that after graduating from college, she might join the Peace Corps.
 
But first she has to get through this little matter of a major life passage: leaving home and going off to college. It's a notion that gave Kate pause even in the middle of last summer, well before she had to start packing up and heading north to her new home on the Smith campus.
 
"I have this intense feeling that I'm leaving something very comfortable and secure in order to go on to something new," she said in June. "If I were to let myself think about it all the time, I might get worried."
 
 Nancy Asai A familiar face on campus and in the residential houses, Nancy Asai is the associate dean of student affairs. (Click on the image to view a larger version.)
 
It's that uncertainty about making successful transitions that gives all of us pause. Ask Becca Whitin, a seasoned sophomore. She'll give you the lowdown on what it is to be a rookie at Smith.
 
"When you first get to school, you've got your ivy plant [a welcoming gift from the Smith Friends of the Botanic Gardens] and you've got your HONS [Heads of New Students] doing all these things to make you feel at home in your house. But then you get to a point where all that starts slowing down. And you start to wonder, 'OK, where do I really fit in? And is this really where I want to be?' Some people think about transfering out, and that's OK for them. They feel lost and think they're having a horrible first semester. My best friend went through it at the University of Georgia. But she stuck it out and she's still there now, going into her second year. Now she loves it."
 
Other students call this phase the "temporary freshman flop." Becca never seriously considered transfering, but she may speak for every first-year who, having arrived at Smith, has felt that she has embarked on a strange, albeit exciting, new journey, and has found herself wondering Is this really where I want to be?
 
The Rookies' First Season
Let's face it. There are many speed bumps on the road that winds through four years of college-especially in the first semester of the first year. Experts say fledgling first-years can expect to experience the thrill of autonomy, of being in the driver's seat for what may be the first time ever. Add to that such feelings as anxiety, homesickness, terror, confusion and excitement--and that's just in the first month.
 
Dean of the First-Year Class Velma Garcia, left, and Assistant Dean for Student Affairs Meredith Farnum take seriously their responsibilities for the well-being of students. Here they greet Smith juniors Sarah Grover, second from right, and Emily Futransky during a stroll across campus. (Click on the image to view a larger version.) Merry, Velma
 
Even Velma Garcia '79, dean of the first-year class, can recall the challenges she encountered as a first-year at Smith. "I'm from a small town in Texas, so my life at Smith was very different. Though at times I experienced severe culture shock, I was also thrilled to be able to live and study here. Joining varsity teams [volleyball and softball, as well as rugby, a club sport] and taking Spanish literature courses helped me feel more at home."
 
The first year of college also forces the newcomer to master all those pesky details of real life-the mysteries of a load of laundry, the puzzle of proper protein, the frustration of too many choices. And no matter how prepared she thinks she is, it may take a while before a campus starts to feel like home.
 
"There are fairly predictable stages of what we call the 'seasons of the first year,'" observes Meredith Farnum, assistant dean of student affairs, referring to a timeline developed in 1992 by a former dean of the first-years, Elizabeth Doherty. September looks like a dizzying roller coaster ride of emotions for the first-year, with the obvious high of finally being on her own tempered by some predictable lows.
 
"There's going to be a certain amount of inevitable stress-if the books you need for a class aren't available, if your roommates are still new, if you haven't had enough downtime to yourself. You can't help but feel emotional tugs," Farnum says. "I remember several years ago walking down Green Street in the fall and seeing a student standing there, sobbing. It didn't take long to find out what the matter was: she was a first-year, she was late for a music audition, she couldn't find the right building, and she was scared and nervous. All I had to do was walk her there, and then she was OK. I also reminded her that there are people around who can offer help, if she needs it."
 
By October and November, a first-year may slip toward a slump prompted by such events as midterms and a Thanksgiving visit home (or lack of one), or by the fading novelty of new friendships and roommate alliances. Anxiety about the looming end of the first semester and completing everything that needs to be done also sets in.
 
But by December's winter recess, most students are glorying in their achievements and looking forward to a vacation. A similar cycle can play out in the second semester, but then the ups and downs tend to be more influenced by weather and friends.
 
Indeed, counselors, class deans and students all agree that the first year of college is a nerve-wracking time. "It's a tumultuous and exciting period in anyone's life, making that leap from late adolescence to adulthood," says Tom Riddell, economics professor and past dean of the first-year class.
 
Mastering the Challenges
According to Pam McCarthy, associate director of health services responsible for Smith's counseling services, three major developmental tasks must be mastered in order to make a successful adjustment to college life. A student must (1) let go, leave behind the familiar support of her home, family and friends; (2) establish a new network of friends; and (3) learn self-regulating behavior. How successful a young woman is at those tasks will be determined in part by her own level of maturity and what expectations she brings to the college landscape.
 
But no matter how ready a first-year may feel, adjusting to college life can be a real challenge. "Her expectations will be affected by the strengths she brings with her and what kinds of experiences she's had so far at home and in school," McCarthy says. The difference between the experience a student brings from home and what she'll encounter at Smith will determine much about how well she adapts and gets a sense of herself in the new college environment. "If she hasn't had much nurturing or confidence-building experience at home or in high school, she may get here and have more difficulty," McCarthy predicts.
 
Being in charge of your own life, being handed permission to reinvent yourself as an adult, also can be daunting. "By its very nature, the college experience promotes risk-taking and experimentation. But some students may not be able to figure out how to combine all that with self-preserving behavior," she said.
 
Even little things like getting enough sleep, getting to morning classes, and regulating eating, sexual behavior and general health care can be challenging. If a student is having a hard time in any area, McCarthy urges her to seek help among any of the campus resources, including the free, confidential counseling services available to all students.
 
Parents, although they may be miles away, can help a daughter cope with the dilemmas of college life by being good listeners when she calls home and by being easily accessible via phone or e-mail. Likewise, they can offer support and confidence in their daughter's ability to solve her own problems. (In fact, a good guide for parents, recommended by both Farnum and Riddell, is Letting Go: A Parents' Guide to Understanding the College Years by Karen Levin Coburn and Madge Lawrence Treeger, just revised and reissued by HarperCollins.)
 
"If there are minor problems, show your support by listening and encouraging your daughter to solve them herself," Riddell suggests. "One of the best ways to help her is to remind her of the available resources on campus."
 
"What's really important," agrees Farnum, "is to get students tapped into all our resources so they can reach out and get help if they need it and have a healthy involvement in Smith." Among those who can help with problems or concerns are the faculty advisers, the class deans, the head resident in each house and the student affairs deans, as well as health service counselors and the chaplains at the Helen Hills Hills Chapel who are available for religious and personal counseling.
 
Of all the challenges of college life that call for a new maturity, the academic workload is by far the most obvious. But preparing for and getting to class, writing papers and having to choose between pizza parties and studying offer challenges, too.
 
"Some students have trouble adjusting to the New England geography and culture and to Smith itself because they've come from someplace very different," Riddell says. But adapting to college-level work can cause even more stress.
 
"Students may arrive at Smith with different expectations about college-level learning and what is expected of them with their study or test-taking skills," says Riddell, noting that the class dean's primary responsibility is the academic welfare of first-years. "These students may not have developed these skills very deeply, plus there are a lot of very bright people who may have difficulties adjusting to the level of expectation that awaits them in the academic culture at Smith."
 
Midsemester grades in October are a common indicator of difficulties. When they're sent out, the dean of the first-year class contacts students who seem to be having academic difficulties and offers help by way of available resources. These include talking with the dean, professors and faculty advisers, or arranging for tutorial services or writing assistance available through the Center for Academic Development.
 
With such a broad range of assistance on tap, the new student need never go far for help. Garcia is very clear about her role with the class of 2001: it is to oversee their academic welfare. "The first year of college is an extremely important period of transition for students in general," she says. "I believe that my role is to work with a student's premajor adviser and with her instructors in order to smooth that transition."
 
Grist for the Greenhorn
So if you're a greenhorn, how can you make a smooth transition to college life?
 
For one thing, make new friends-get connected through extracurricular activities, whether they're with a campus organization, a house committee, a sports team or a religious group. "Some students get here and begin questioning God and humanity. They also begin to get quite active with religious organizations," says the Rev. Richard Unsworth, interim dean of the chapel. "They don't always follow their own traditional religious life. It's not so much what you leave behind as what you are heading for as an adult, and very often this quest sets off a lifetime of inquiry."
 
"I think it's really important for a student to find a place to belong," Farnum says. "That place can vary from academic involvement to playing a sport, volunteering or joining a student organization. It's another place to hang your hat."
 
Finding a place to fit in is one of the things that helped Kansas native Hillary Hartley '97, now a Smith graduate, when she first arrived on campus. "It doesn't matter if it's a weekly study group or an a cappella singing group like the one I joined. The second week I was at Smith I auditioned for Noteables and surprisingly, I got in. The 15 women in that group became my closest friends," she recalls.
 
"You can find your niche in student organizations or house activities," observes Nancy Asai, associate dean of student affairs/residence life. "There are a lot of opportunities in the residential house. Every first-year takes turns having responsibility for tea duty, and a variety of other house jobs-fire captain and social chair, to name a few-are available."
 
Asai's office takes seriously its responsibility to ease the adjustment of new initiates to the residential and social culture of Smith. Traditionally, HONS are responsible for assisting with new-student orientation and introducing new students to life in the houses. They do so in a variety of ways ranging from coordinating a Big Sister-Little Sister matchup of returning students with first-years to creating door decorations for the rooms of the newest occupants. Meanwhile, each house has a head resident (HR), normally a Smith senior who has been extensively trained to oversee the house's basic management and who also serves as a peer counselor.
 
"First-years often travel in packs the first few weeks of school-safety in numbers," Asai notes with a smile. "But some of the house council members or the HONS will try to do simple things like taking the first-years downtown on ice-cream runs and exploring Northampton. We tell the student leaders in our [residential life] training that it's the upper-class women in the house who can make or break a first-year's successful adjustment to group living experience."
 
Likewise, the on-campus orientation, in which all new students participate before classes actually begin, features receptions, picnics and forums on the curriculum and other events designed to introduce new students to the college and to each other. Orientation also includes activities geared toward raising awareness and appreciation of the cultural diversity that exists within the Smith community.
 
Optional preorientation programs are offered as well, designed to lessen the culture shock of being a stranger in a strange new land. For instance, Bridge, a program for American students of color, has for many women been a first place at Smith to form long-lasting friendships. The International Students' Preorientation is designed to acquaint entering students from foreign countries with the academic and social life at Smith as well with life in the United States. Preludes, a two-and-a-half-day camp experience in central Massachusetts, aims to give new students an early edge on getting acclimated and creating a new sense of community among neophyte Smithies in an informal, off-campus setting.
 
Before starting her first year at Smith a year ago, Susan Bentsi-Enchill from North Ghana, Africa, took part in several preorientation programs. "It was an easy adjustment and I made quite a few friends through the International Students' Preorientation," she notes. At this year's orientation, returning second-year Bentsi-Enchill was an official greeter of new students, serving as a HONS for Morris House, where she lives.
 
Happy Endings
So whatever became of the distressed student encountered by Merry Farnum years ago on Green Street?
 
"I never saw her again-until I saw her on Commencement Day four years later, a successful graduating senior. I would say that at Smith it works out that way for most. The students do survive, and they do come out the other end feeling successful and confident. It's always hard for me to see them go," she added with a sigh. "They certainly touch all our hearts and our lives."
 
And what of Becca Whitin, who was feeling a touch of the blues in September 1996? She's all over that now, she'll tell you, and has been since the second semester of her first year. Today she's a participant in the prestigious Student Research in Departments (STRIDE) program and an energetic second-year at Smith. "There is so much to look forward to," she said in July. "I'm going to be a gallery assistant. I'm going to be a HONS in Northrop House. I have STRIDE. I have a place now at Smith."

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