Missing home while at school
Posted Sep 1, 2010 02:42:03 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The transition to college or university can be an intimidating one — and not just because of the increased pressure for grades and classroom workload. For thousands of teens, the college or university experience also marks the first time away from home and that can be accompanied by feelings of loneliness or homesickness.
“They (the students) want feelings of being connected and they might be feeling that something is missing and that just contributes to their feeling of homesickness,” explains Sandra Gibson, a health educator at the University of Waterloo.
Gibson says the problems can be exacerbated when it comes to international students, which UW has its share of. For those young adults, the post-secondary experience is not just in a new city but in an entirely new country.
“Social interaction is very important,” Gibson stresses.
To that end, all schools — not just UW — offer transition programs aimed at easing the adjustment to post-secondary life. It’s something the schools do, according to Gibson, because their primary focus is on student success. And that includes personal success, not just academic.
“We want students to come here, we want them to be successful, we want them to do well socially and academically,” Gibson says. “So we have all kinds of programs and activities.”
Gibson urges all new students to get involved in the “post-secondary experience” by joining clubs and taking advantage of opportunities to meet new people. While the schools do their best to provide those opportunities, Gibson says it’s also important for students to remember that they’re not alone if they feel a little down or out of place.
“Lots of students experience homesickness when they get to university,” Gibson notes.
She says students can get regular exercise and practice healthy eating habits to combat some of those feelings. Beyond that, she says there’s nothing wrong with bringing a little piece of home with you to your student home.
“Maybe their photos or stuffed animals. We want them to keep connected to their family and friends, plan their visits and call home,” Gibson says. “They can also talk to their dons and their roommates or counsellors at health services or counselling services, as well as other students.”
UW’s 6,800 new students will get a glimpse of university life next week during Orientation Week. The event involves more than 1,200 upper-year student volunteers and helps the newcomers to settle in at UW. The six-day program, which begins Monday, September 6th, offers a mix of academic information and social events for the first-year class.
