This semester marks the start of my second year at NSU. But it also marks another year of my life that I have to deal with some form of anxiety in general, including social anxiety. As a transfer, commuter student, I face an even greater challenge than those who are first-year residential students. While those who live on campus are able to connect to peers through orientation, events and by living at the dorms, commuters have less chances to connect through those methods.
In this past year, I got involved with two amazing organizations: Campus Cursive and Student Media (specifically The Current). My respective roles in each of these organizations require me to “table,” which is the practice of setting up a table at an event with a bit of marketing to recruit new members. Organizations tend to do this at freshmen orientation, but also at Weeks of Welcome events during the first two weeks of school. If you saw me speaking at a table, you’re bound to have seen me stumble a bit on my words, and blush profusely. I even had the occasional panic attack.
My boyfriend recently transferred to NSU, as a commuter student, too. As a new student who was not sure how to find locations on campus, he wanted me to join him at his orientation. So I sat through another three hour seminar on a Saturday morning, and with the knowledge I have now, I found myself critiquing the event. I reflected on my own orientation last year, where I heard very little about clubs and organizations. After learning more about the freshman orientation process in the past year, I expected there to be more than just links to certain organizations’ websites in the transfer seminar.
I say this with a heavy heart, but as a commuter and transfer student, I feel like an afterthought. Weeks of Welcome events tend to be the only way to access clubs for a commuter/transfer, and these events can be inconvenient to my demographic, if you are not already required to be on campus. I find myself questioning whether enhancing the transfer/commuter experience would help reduce the nerves of incoming students. If last year, I had access to walking through my own “transfer student club fair,” would I have felt less nervous about my first time tabling? Would I have joined as a leadership member sooner rather than April of this year? Would I have joined more than just Campus Cursive and Student Media?
There is no denying that freshmen orientation is necessary to their success. Although, I would love to see some adaptation to the transfer/commuter experience.
