SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Freshman year of college can be a hectic time for incoming students, with many of them getting their first taste of independence.
Augustana Freshman Hannah Horack grew up in Germany, but wanted to come to college in the United States.
“Growing up, being bilingual, I always wanted to come to the U.S. and yeah, so being in an English environment, I thought college would be the perfect time to come here and explore that,” Horack said.
She didn’t know what college would be like, however it exceeded her expectations.
“I get the sense that college is more about, you as a person, not only your academics here, which is really, really nice,” Horack said.
It’s a sentiment that many other freshmen have when they first step foot onto campus.
“I would say just like the overwhelming, like, welcome-ness of the community. Everybody is so nice,” Freshman nursing student Gabby Melchert said.
While the community is welcoming at Augustana, many of the freshmen were met with shock switching from high school to college.
“In high school you went to the same building every day with the same people and that obviously isn’t very fun for everybody. But knowing that I’m going to class for something that I have a huge passion and makes me really excited to go to class,” Melchert said.
“How much you have to learn to advocate for yourself and hold yourself accountable. So whether that means, like, doing your dishes and not letting, like, your room get gross or doing your homework and not procrastinating it like a lot of the stuff falls on you,” Freshman Special and Elementary Education student Laura Heckenlaible said.
For associate professor Beth Boyens, the switch to higher education is also evident in the classroom.
“I think they are universally surprised by the workload and, and by the level of expectation and by the unstructured time,” Boyens said.
With many freshmen admitting that one of the hardest parts of the first month of school is the workload.
“It’s hard to know what to do with all the homework you’re given. It seems very overwhelming when you have all these classes and all these professors,” Heckenlaible said.
“It’s really all in your own time, so you really have to like manage your time very well,” Melchert said.
“I would say you have to be very structured to get all your work done for classes, but slowly after the first month you kind of find your way around,” Horack said.
But, for these freshmen, the part that makes it all worth it is meeting new people and discovering more about themselves.
“I love kind of feeling the independence that I get, but then also, you know, hanging out with my neighbors and my teammates and all that stuff,” Heckenlaible said.
“Getting to meet so many new people, getting to have my own freedom. I really love that. And also just like kind of like exploring a whole new world of myself and seeing a whole different like side of me that I really have never seen before,” Melchert said.
For incoming freshmen who may be anxious about college, both students and staff have helpful pieces of advice…
“Students are a little nervous about approaching faculty, but certainly here at Augustana, we have our doors open, we want them to come see us. We want to develop relationships with our students and get to know them and get to know how best to teach them,” Boyens said.
“I think the most important thing was to be like a student, a person, like a human that cares for other people and that can and not other people, but also yourself,” Heckenlaible said.
The Augustana freshman class welcomed in 533 first year students, which is a 17% increase from last year.
