2008 Woodie Awards
Freshmen Editorial: Stevens is home now
Patrick Gleeson
Issue date: 1/26/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
I have only been here at Stevens for one semester, but I now consider Stevens my home. I came to this realization the day after Thanksgiving. As my neck was getting sore from sleeping on the couch and my younger siblings were annoying me to no end, I started thinking, "I don't live here anymore, and I don't want to. My dorm at Stevens was better. My life at Stevens was better."
My month of exile, otherwise known as winter break, did not change my opinion in the slightest, but rather reinforced it. At Stevens my bed had a frame holding it up. At my parents' house my bed was laid out on my brothers' bedroom floor at night and stashed under their bunk bed during the day. Here, I had things to do (too many things to do sometimes, but things nonetheless), as compared to being bored out of my mind with my family. Back at my parents' house, I had to help care for my siblings. At Stevens, my only responsibility is myself. Now don't think that I hate my family. I love them and I know that I'm lucky to have them, but it's just that after living on my own, I can't live with them anymore.
I believe independence is necessary for one to mature emotionally and to grow up as person. While dorm life has a few restrictions, it certainly has more freedom then living with my parents. Plus, I'm an adult now (legally at least). I'm supposed to move out of my parent's house. I am not going back this summer because then I'll have to live in the most stereotypical of nerd accommodations, my parent's basement.
My friends can never completely take the place of my family, but they are just as supportive and a lot less judgmental.
If I tell them that I stayed up until three in the morning playing video games, slept through a class the next morning and that I'm about to take a four-hour nap, my friends, at worst, would call me an idiot. My parents on the other hand would be panicking and asking me how on earth I could do something so stupid and explaining that if I keep doing this I'm going to fail out of school and ruin my entire future. I realize they would do this out of genuine concern, but it is still annoying. At Stevens, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions may have accepted me first, but it didn't take long for the students here to do the same.
My month of exile, otherwise known as winter break, did not change my opinion in the slightest, but rather reinforced it. At Stevens my bed had a frame holding it up. At my parents' house my bed was laid out on my brothers' bedroom floor at night and stashed under their bunk bed during the day. Here, I had things to do (too many things to do sometimes, but things nonetheless), as compared to being bored out of my mind with my family. Back at my parents' house, I had to help care for my siblings. At Stevens, my only responsibility is myself. Now don't think that I hate my family. I love them and I know that I'm lucky to have them, but it's just that after living on my own, I can't live with them anymore.
I believe independence is necessary for one to mature emotionally and to grow up as person. While dorm life has a few restrictions, it certainly has more freedom then living with my parents. Plus, I'm an adult now (legally at least). I'm supposed to move out of my parent's house. I am not going back this summer because then I'll have to live in the most stereotypical of nerd accommodations, my parent's basement.
My friends can never completely take the place of my family, but they are just as supportive and a lot less judgmental.
If I tell them that I stayed up until three in the morning playing video games, slept through a class the next morning and that I'm about to take a four-hour nap, my friends, at worst, would call me an idiot. My parents on the other hand would be panicking and asking me how on earth I could do something so stupid and explaining that if I keep doing this I'm going to fail out of school and ruin my entire future. I realize they would do this out of genuine concern, but it is still annoying. At Stevens, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions may have accepted me first, but it didn't take long for the students here to do the same.
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