First impressions are everything, whether it’s a job interview, a first date, or a college class, our first take on anything can shape our opinion of it forever. You might remember your own first impressions of Capital as a first-year; you might even be able to say how much, if at all, later experiences on campus changed the opinions you formed in that first impression.
To get an idea of what kind of impression the University is leaving on the newest class of students, I spent some time this week talking with first-years about their experiences during the first few weeks of the semester.
“[It’s] very different from attending community college. I feel like I have a home base on campus,” Franklin Slagle, a first-year living in Lohman, said. “Being able to walk anywhere in five minutes is nice. Having food at my disposal is also great. I also see people [I know] everywhere I go on campus, which makes those five minute walks more like 10 or 15 minutes.”
This feeling of a tightly knit community on campus is shared by one of his fellow students.
Roara Draminski, another first-year in Lohman, says, “[There are] always people around; always some place I can go so I don’t have to be alone.”
One of the greatest measures of a college’s success is whether or not a group of students from such a wide variety of backgrounds are able to come together and forge lasting relationships. Judging by statements like these, from students who have been here for less than a month, it seems Capital is doing something right.
Some first-year students are enjoying life on campus so much, they are already looking forward to future opportunities to serve in leadership positions and give back to the community of students they have just recently joined.
Sierra Roberts, who lives in Cotterman, already intends to apply to be an RA next year, potentially in the same hall she currently lives in.
“I was a mediator in high school between many people, and [I] think it will be fun,” Roberts said.
Of course, nothing is perfect, and campus life is no different. With the exception of Cotterman, no other residence halls reserved for first-years are air conditioned, and, as Katie Stanley explains, this makes the dorms a less pleasant place to stay, especially this time of year.
“Inside is always 20 degrees hotter than outside. We have three fans going right now… it’s a nice building, just not air conditioned,” Stanley said.
The primary topic of complaints from first-years, however, are not the dorm rooms, but the Main Dining Room (MDR) that occupies the second floor of the Student Union. Perhaps surprisingly, the most complaints were not regarding the food (though there were some), but rather confusion regarding the MDR’s primary hours of operation.
“I’m still trying to figure out when their main meal hours are,” Stanley said.
Draminski had a similar complaint, “Sometimes I go in there and there is nothing but salad. I went in at 1 p.m. and there was no food. Except salad.”
These complaints were, however, almost lost between the constant praises almost every student had for their new school. From the feeling of community, to the short walks between classes, to the wide variety of restaurants down Main street, to the incredible beauty of the fountains on a summer night, the list of things the first-years interviewed loved about living on campus goes on and on.
Yes, first impressions are everything and Capital University seems to have made a very good one on the class of 2020.
