Firstly, I would like to say that this is my first blog entry. The ability to write about nearly anything, on the Internet, without limitation is interesting. It is a new experience and I plan on making the most of it. My title reflects my desire to document how different experiences or events change or enhance my perspective on things.
As a freshman I feel like I am forming an identity and my perspectives are changing. This weekend I took a trip to Guilford College in Greensboro. I had to attend a collegiate refereeing workshop in Greensboro, so I took the opportunity to visit and stay with my good friend from high school. For those of you who don't know, Guilford is a small, private college in Greensboro, NC. Before leaving on Friday afternoon, I was excited to see what it would be like at another college campus. I love UNC and I was anxious to see how Guilford would compare.
I've been on Guilford's campus once before while traveling to the coast. The campus was conveniently on our way and my friend Morgan wanted to show me his future campus. Guilford is a quaint, peaceful school. The quad is picturesque with beautiful trees and attractive landscaping. The buildings are very suitable for the campus style, and the quad looks comparable to that of Chapel Hill's campus. However, I must say that I would not be able to go to school there. Guilford has a small student population, about 2,000. At first I thought this would be a good thing, for visiting purposes. My host knows a lot of people and I was introduced to many of them. Yet, as my trip progressed, I realized some things about life and college. First, parental influence is huge in terms of student development. Most of the kids that I met, aside from Morgan's good friends, were quite apathetic about Guilford and there studies in general. And I'll be honest, I don't love studying all the time, but I do care and it is of high importance to myself and my future. Also, because of this general observed apathy, I noticed a bunch of students engaging in destructive behavior toward their campus. Students pulled light poles down, threw stones at windows, and even urinated in stairwells and water fountains. Honestly I was in shock about the last two, and the other behaviors were definitely unexpected. When this happened, I talked to some of the kids and they asked me if I did similar things to my campus. I simply replied, "well, back at my school we actually like it there and don't do things like this". I guess to tie it all together, I realized how influential a person's background at home determines how they act outside of their home, especially at school. Also, it was somewhat eye-opening to see people destroy what their parents were investing in for their future. It was discouraging but at the same time it made me appreciate where I am now, as cliche as it may sound it is true.
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Well I guess to start off i'd have to say that some of the things those kids were doing came off as pretty amusing to me haha. But to be honest i'm not surprised that these students were doing those kinds of things. I went to an all guys high school on Long Island called Chaminade. It was a private school, and %95 of the students there didn't want to be. Chaminade has a very good academic record, but the people the main reason students attend is because their parents make them go. When someone is forced to do something or attend something they do not want to attend, they do everything in their power to make their resentment. If that means urinating in stairwells and water fountains than so be it. But from what you said about the strong parental influence on the students, it makes me think of my high school and some of the "destructive" things that we did. If anything, it makes me feel bad for these students and their lack of true autonomy in terms of higher education. But I definitely agree that an experience like that would make someone truly appreciate UNC.
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