Opinion | I still struggle returning to college

Zach Davis
Opinions Editor

For many returning Panthers, orientation week is celebratory. It’s filled with wild parties, day time hangouts resulting in calls from annoyed Orange residents and the rekindling of relationships forgotten in the lull of summer break. But not everyone has this idyllic “o-week” experience.

Believe it or not, some upperclassmen struggle returning to the collegiate atmosphere. I’m one of them. 

I’m not an antisocial person – I’m outgoing and I make friends easily. But summer makes me forget how to forge relationships, since long work days and Netflix binges don’t exactly encourage social interaction. And sometimes, reintegrating into the Chapman lifestyle needs coaxing.

Welcoming administrative arms are open to Chapman students during orientation week, but only those coming to campus for the first time. For the rest of us who have endured some of the brutal experiences that college can bring, we are left to our own devices. Reintroducing ourselves to Chapman is completely up to us. Some students are pros at this transformation. Others less so, and that’s the case for me.

The thought of returning to campus this fall has filled me with an anxiety comparable to how I felt when I first moved to Orange. It may be unwarranted for me to feel this way, but it doesn’t change the fact that I still struggle with coming back to Chapman. This anxiety led me to debate delaying my return. Why would I come during orientation week? I’d just spend those days sleeping until 3 p.m. and dreading my return to real life. Couldn’t I be doing this at home?

Orientation week is important because it allows us to engage with other students. We can enjoy campus without the underlying dread of classwork. And for those who struggle with anxiety like me, it’s especially needed to aid our back to school transition.

But despite the numerous events for freshmen and transfer students held throughout the week, few events are tailored to encourage interaction amongst those of us returning. We are signing up for utility bills and going on grocery runs instead of meeting with our prospective professors or going to silent discos. Maybe it’s assumed that we don’t need or want the help, but I’m here to attest that we most certainly do.

And if you’re living in Chapman housing, move-in isn’t allowed until right before class begins. A rushed adjustment period undoubtedly leaves students anxious about missed social events and leaves little time to prepare for our upcoming semester, interact with people we haven’t seen for three months and transition from our hot girl summers to our studious girl autumns. 

Perhaps, if students were allowed to move in a week before and were given the opportunity to attend events designed to ease our transition back, we’d have less anxiety. Our generation struggles more than any other with this issue, especially when it comes to school, so it’s no wonder that anxiety is a product of returning to campus. We’re stressed enough as it is, why can’t we save that anxiety for finals week?

I don’t want to dread orientation week. I want to be excited to return to Chapman because once I’m in my groove here, I adore it. But I can’t adopt this attitude instantaneously, and just like a baby bird that needs a shove out of the nest, I need a little push. I know that it’s possible for Chapman to help with this anxiety – they helped me in my freshman year. I hope that in the future, Chapman will increase opportunities for upperclassmen that encourage us to emerge from our summer cocoon into the social butterflies that our campus stimulates.