What makes you an expert on freshman year?
As a sophomore at Towson University in Baltimore, Md., I’ve learned much more in a complete year of college than what just my general education courses provided. I spent my first two semesters at college learning the quickest ways to class (for maximum sleeping in), the best places to eat on a meal plan (for minimal diarrhea) and the most effective methods of making lasting friendships. I hope to share my knowledge with you, the prospective college freshman, because I wish it had been available for me when I was in your shoes.

As an upper classman, what does a Web site about freshman provide for me?
Having already experienced your freshman year, you are just as qualified as I am on what sort of information freshmen should have in their arsenals. This Web site serves as a mode of dialogue between curious freshman and knowledgeable upper classmen who can answer their questions about what to expect as they start their college careers.

Where should I consider living on campus my freshman year?
If you are not commuting from home, you will be assigned a dorm room on campus you will be living in your first two semesters of college. While room changes are possible, many freshmen keep their dorm assignments and roommates for the whole year, so it benefits to know how to make the most of where you live.
The old side of campus includes Richmond and Newell Halls, Prettyman, Scarborough, Residence Tower and Ward and West Halls. These are some the buildings that look more like Hogwarts than high rise apartments. While old side has its own charm, so to speak (older furniture, less space and sometimes no air conditioning), there are plenty of benefits to living a little further away from main campus. The sense of community is much stronger on old side, and if you leave your door open people are almost guaranteed to walk into your room to strike up a conversation. If you’re concerned about making friends, old side is a great place for you to be.
If you prefer being in the middle of all the action, the Glen complexes (Towers A-D) might be a better fit. Located centrally on campus, the towers not only provide quick access to most academic buildings, but offer larger rooms, even in cases of forced tripling, where an extra student than expected lives in your room for at least half of the first semester.
If you’re very lucky, you might have landed living in the Paca or Tubman Houses in West Village. While the walk to campus is a little longer, the new rooms are beyond comparison to on-campus housing.

What kinds of classes will I be taking in my first semester at college?
Your schedule is provided for you your first semester of college and is generally comprised of general education courses, or classes from the categories required by Towson University to graduate. While the classes you’re in might not be the ones you would have chosen from that category, you shouldn’t write them off completely in favor of exploring the nightlife. If you have no direction towards choosing a major, you might find your interests sparked in a basic Gen Ed. course. If you do have your major already declared, these courses will be your primary focus before you can concentrate on where your interests truly lie. Look at it as an expansion of your general knowledge before you become an expert in your future career.

Where is the best place to eat on campus?
There are two on-campus all-you-can-eat dining facilities. Newell Dining Hall, the smaller of the two, is located on the old side of campus and offers a slightly homier atmosphere. Kosher dining options, as well as a deli, grill and international food selection are available, but at more constricted hours than the other dining facility.
The Glen Marketplace, located centrally between Towers B, C and D, offers more food choices than Newell during longer hours, but the food quality is not as fresh. The Glen Micromart is a great place to spend extra meals on chips, soda and microwavable meals.
A la carte dining facilities are a great place to grab a quick lunch before class, spend extra meals or vary your diet. The University Union offers three dining locations: Susquehanna, which is built like a mall food court, Patuxent, which offers slightly higher quality meal options at a higher cost and Paws, which is located in a more bar and grille setting.

How can I keep from getting lost on my way to campus?
While the university provides maps, signs that point to the major academic buildings and paw prints on the ground leading to and from the academic sides of campus, one of the best and most abundant resources you can utilize are the students around you. While asking for directions might seem embarrassing, it’s more than likely that your classmates remember being in the same boat as you only a few years ago, and would be more than willing to point you in the right direction.

I’m interested in getting involved. What are easy ways to meet people who share my interests?
Towson University offers a multitude of official and non-official clubs and organizations to get involved with. Organizations such as the Black Student Union or the Latin American Student Organization offer ways for students deeply connected to their culture or heritage to find students with similar backgrounds. Weekly meeting clubs such as the Ballroom Dance Club or the Towson Feminist Collective could help broaden your viewpoint on subjects you’ve had past interest in, but never truly explored. Greek life offers both ways to help your community philanthropically while making friends in a setting similar to high school.

Towson University sophomore Maria Herdoiza talks to her boyfriend, University of Maryland sophomore Peter Myers. The couple has been together four years, and the past year at college they have had to experiment dating long distance. Photo by Lauren Slavin/Towson University student.

Every night at around 11 p.m., a specific ring tone goes off on sophomore Maria Herdoiza’s cell phone letting her know her boyfriend Peter Myers is calling.

“How you doing cutie?” she asks, and listens to his response about how his day was at the University of Maryland, College Park.

She tells him about her rough ballet class that morning, where she went for dinner and that she has to work on Friday night, so he won’t be able to visit her at Towson University until Saturday.

“We try to tell each other everything that’s going on in our lives, even if it might seem insignificant,” Herdoiza said. “We want to know what’s going on because we aren’t there every day.”

For many high school seniors, leaving for college also means leaving behind their high school sweetheart.

But for Herdoiza and Myers, who have been dating for four years, breaking up “wasn’t an option.”

“We’ve known since we were 16 that we wanted to get married,” Herdoiza said. “I know that there’s no one else I want to be with.”

Herdoiza and Myers started dating their sophomore year of high school, and live within five minutes of each other’s homes in Silver Spring, Md. Attending two separate colleges, It was a challenge to only see each other on weekends, according to Myers.

“I was just used to her always being there,” he said. “If I had a problem with anything she was right there. And then she wasn’t right there anymore.”

Money spent on gas and cell phone bills to stay in touch is only one difficulty Herdoiza and Myers discovered after deciding to keep a long distance relationship. The lifestyle they chose made adjusting to college very different.

“There are things you can’t do,” Myers said. “If all your friends are going to a party to get drunk and hit on girls, you can’t go with them. Not that I’d want to do that,” he added.

While the decision to stay together long distance is worth giving some things up, according to Herdoiza and Myers, the same can’t be said for every couple.

“Only do it if you’re 100 percent sure that it’ll be worth it in the long run,” Herdoiza said. “You don’t want to look back on it and regret missing out on the stereotypical college experience.”

Freshman Lindsay Rabe practices strengthening her voice in the Center For the Arts. Rabe has to practice for her major one to two hours a day, along with completing up to three hours of homework and working 10 hours a week. Photo by Lauren Slavin/Towson University student

Many freshmen are coming in to the Counseling Center at Towson University with stress issues from balancing school, relationships and a job. Listen to this story about how freshman Lindsay Rabe balances working with academics.

Listen to the audio story here.

Many freshmen are coming in to the Counseling Center at Towson University with stress issues from balancing school, relationships and a job. Listen to this story about how freshman Lindsay Rabe balances working with academics.

Imagine taking on a college course load of seven classes, plus required time outside of class for homework. Add a 10 hours a week work schedule, and you have the life of freshman music education major Lindsay Rabe.

“I’ve tried from the beginning to be pretty balanced and make sure I’m focusing on class before anything else…I am so overwhelmed 90 percent of the time, but I’ve come to realize college is just like that.”

Rabe works at the Administration Building as a student assistant for the Towson University Foundation, which helps to provide scholarships to students. She has a concentration in voice in her music education, and has to practice from one to two hours a day. Her seven classes also require two to three hours of homework a day.

Many more freshman than previous years are coming in to the Counseling Center at Towson University due to the economy, according to Jaime Fenton, Coordinator of Eating Disorders. The stress of starting college along with worries about a job can lead to depressive or anxiety symptoms.

“Most freshmen struggle in some way with adjusting to college… you add this really kind of really normative adjustment issue with this additional stress of how do I balance things with work, how do I support myself financially so it’s just an added weight onto freshmen”

The counseling center tells these freshman to have realistic expectations of their performance in school based on how they manage their time between working and having a social life. Rabe tries to put the extra effort forth to make her job fit in with her first year college experience.

“I still have a really good I feel social life and a good balance between everything it does take extra work… but I feel like I’m still having a pretty normal life, I’m just getting paid.”

Freshman Beth Dacquisto gets into her boyfriend's car on a Thursday evening to go to his home for the weekend. Many students leave campus over the weekend, giving Towson University the reputation of a "suitcase school." Photo by Lauren Slavin/Towson University student.

Walking from the Center for the Arts to Richmond Hall, it’s rare to cross paths with a single student.

The dining halls, the University Union and the Beach are all deserted.

The lights remain on in the academic buildings, but no one is inside.
What’s the cause of the abandoned campus that was thriving with student life just a day before?

At Towson University, the cause is the weekend.

“It’s a dead zone,” sophomore pre-nursing major Julie Cain said. “There’s nobody here; the only reason people go out of their dorms is to eat.”

Towson University is often referred to by students and those familiar with the college as a “suitcase school,” or a school where students stay during the week, but pack their bags to go home on the weekends.

“It’s unfortunate that a school sort of gets that rep,” Director of Student Activities and Director of New Student Programs David Satterlee said. “During the week you have 21,000 students walking around; even if you just don’t have the commuters, you’re down to 4,500 students. And if in any given weekend, half of those students go home, it’s going to feel like nobody’s around.”

For Towson freshmen who go into the school with this perspective, it often creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.

As a freshman, Cain recalls going home every weekend for the first two months of school, and every other weekend for the rest of the year.

Living in Howard County, about a 45 minute drive away, it was convenient for Cain to go home for weekends.

“There was a lot of stuff to do at home. I needed to pick up stuff mostly, just go home and get the essentials,” she said. “Everything that I had been with for roughly 18 years was there.”

In her first five weeks of school, freshman Beth Dacquisto has left campus every weekend, either to go home to Davidsonville, Md., or to her boyfriend’s house in Severn, Md.

“When you’re a senior in high school, you’re relishing the idea that you’ll stay on campus and never go see your family,” Dacquisto said. “During the summer I was pretty much convinced that I wouldn’t leave campus at all. [Towson’s] so close to home that it seems kind of a waste to not go home.”

Dacquisto’s belief that staying on campus is a “waste” is the exact opposite of the image The Office of Student Activities is trying to project, according to Satterlee.

“The reason we want people to stay on campus is because we think that if they stick around on the weekends they’re going to get more connected to other students, and more connected to the university as a whole,” Satterlee said. “Our biggest worry is that students just live on campus, take classes and go home.”

For Dacquisto, who says most of the people she has met so far in college are commuters, going home on weekends doesn’t infringe on her ability to stay connected.

“I can hang out with my friends during weekdays after school so I really don’t think I’m missing too much,” she said.

As a sophomore, Cain only goes home once or twice a month.

“I’m trying to cut it down,” she joked.

Part of the reason she stays on campus more often is because her father is refusing to take her home.

“The third week I had come home in a row he was like ‘I’m not taking you home anymore because you need to stay at Towson and get cultured,’” Cain said.

Cain advises freshmen to stay on campus, as she regrets not staying for some events that would have “been nice to experience.”

“I think I would have gained more by staying at Towson,” Cain said. “A lot of stuff does happen here, even though it’s kind of dead.”

Click HERE for Towson’s full calendar of events.

Making friends at college doesn’t have to be the scary experience movies and TV make it out to be.

Freshman business major Sarah Paar was lucky enough to start college with two friends from high school.

“I was excited to come here and make new friends and meet new people,” she said.

 You’ve probably already gone through plenty of friend making opportunities without realizing it.

Orientation and getting involved on campus were two ways freshman speech pathology major Kristy Roberts made friends.

Making friends at college was definitely concerning at the beginning of the year, according to Roberts.

“I’m not really that outgoing, so I was nervous that I’d be too shy and not make anyone know to reach out to me if I didn’t reach out to them,” Roberts said. “It wasn’t that hard; it was easier than I thought. Everyone seemed to be really outgoing, and that made me more outgoing.”

It’s ok, I used to do it too. There is something daunting and terrifying about balancing a plate or two, a drink and a bowl of ice cream in a crowded dining hall where any slight bump could topple you over, ruining any chance of a successful social career at college.

At least with those five people who were paying attention to you fall anyway.

The balancing act might not go on much longer, as it’s becoming all to apparent, “green” is what colleges are going for these days. I use the word green lightly, because unlike several campuses around the country, Towson’s green efforts in the dining halls are limited to Trayless Tuesdays.  

Trayless Tuesdays is a green program aimed to ”reduce food waste, decrease the energy and water used to clean trays, and encourage healthier eating habits,” according to the “How To Go Green” page on Towson University’s website.

Green initiatives in many California colleges are elaborated on in this article released today by the Los Angeles Times.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-trayless14-2009sep14,0,3200940.story

Larry Gordon writes:
“Many colleges offer dining plans that allow students to eat all they want at any meal; trayless schools typically maintain that tradition, although diners may not be able to carry all their food at once. Those schools report decreases of as much as 30% in food waste. With no trays to wash, they reduce water and energy use too.” 

School’s such as Pomona College in California started with initiatives like Trayless Tuesdays, and have converted to completly trayless this year.  UC Santa Cruz, who made the switch last year, saved over $100,000 annually. This money went to lowering the cost of boarding fees for students and serving better quality food at school.

The idea that the elimination of trays saves water is one students still question. Because tables have to be cleaned more often from spills and extra plates are used by students who go back for more food, some students are unsure where the saving comes from.
 

While the article does an excellent job of promoting the benefits of going trayless early on, the legitimate complaints of the students are saved for the last few paragraphs.

One major lack of detail I noticed was a comparison I made between these school and Towson: how do the plates get to a dishwasher? At Towson we have a conveyor belt system where plates, cups and bowls are put onto trays and moved into either a kitchen or a secret cave where house elves scrub each plate by hand.

While some students pile each tray until plates actually spill off of it, I have witnessed on several occasions students put a new tray on the conveyor belt only to bus a single cup.

Something left for me to investigate with this year’s freshmen class is how they are inspired by initiatives like Trayless Tuesdays to be green in other aspects of their lives, or if the annoying efforts of the school make them resent the program.