E INTERVIEW

E INTERVIEW BRIEF STORY

We all learn from experience, and what better way to find out firsthand the survival guide to being a first year student, than to interview someone going into their fourth year in 2010. On November 24th 2009, I interviewed Trevor Faessler, a third year student who’s currently in the Criminology Program at Wilfrid University Brantford. Not only is he a full time student, but he also engages in extracurricular activities including, the Student Council Committee and is practicing his role as the Don of the Lawyer’s Hall Residence. He gave useful tips to survive the first year university and great advice to move onto the second year of university.
At Wilfrid Laurier University, and any other Universities for that matter, many students are still trying to find their footing in a place where they no longer have their parents to rely on, and usually, their friends are off to pursue a career that obligates them to move away. Far from familiar faces, it’s not an easy transition to University without the ease of Orientation Week, and Don’s to welcome you into a jam packed year, that most students are anxious to begin. Surely, in grade 12, students are well aware that the workload should not be lightly expected, even for a first year student. New study habits need to be learned, and time management becomes a key, in the success of one’s first year.
Initiative to do well in school becomes a priority, because professors, unlike teachers in high school no longer are there to remind you of when all your assignments are due, and are usually strict about deadlines. Another major change would be how a student sees themselves in the society as a whole, instead of their state of mind in high school, where smaller things were important. University is now a major foot hold, where your career is at stake, and where you’ll meet a lot of new people, learn to live with them, and in turn will help in preparing you for a life on your own.
A concern most first year students have nearing the end of their first term is finding housing around campus. It is important to consider that whoever you choose to be your roommates, that it be responsible people you can trust and get along with. Conveniently set up in apartment style, the residences at Wilfrid Laurier places you in a suit with 3 to four people for 8 months., allowing you to experience living with complete strangers, and getting to know them, long enough to build upon each other’s trust.