Katie Pinto
PHHS ’17, High Point University ‘21
When I was applying to college, I had no intention of going to a school out of state. I have never been away from home for a long period of time, so when I was accepted to High Point University, a school in North Carolina, I was contemplating going there. When it came time to decide on where I wanted to attend, I chose High Point because even though it was out of state, I knew that they had an amazing program for education majors. When August rolled around and I had to start packing for school, I panicked. It all started to hit me, that I would be 8 hours away from my family and friends, I was not ready.
College is a huge adjustment, and not having my family close to me was scary at first. I started looking at in-state school options because I thought I did not want to go to High Point anymore. I found myself crying every day as it grew closer and closer to move in. After talking with my parents, I decided that I was going to try out High Point for a year and if I did not like it, I would transfer to a school closer to home. Move-in day came, and I completely shut down. I was really excited to attend this school but I didn’t want my parents to leave.
The day after move-in is when my parents left, and I was panicking. As someone who is shy, I struggled not to have my parents as a support system. The first few days on campus, we had orientation and planned activities which helped me get to know other freshmen, as well as distract me from missing my parents and my home. Within the first few weeks of college, I did struggle with being homesick, but I branched out and started to join clubs and organizations. I started meeting people, making friends, and utilizing the resources that my campus had to offer.
To the graduating class of 2020, my advice to you is to utilize all your resources that your campus has to offer. As someone who is naturally shy, I was scared to ask for help and to join clubs and organizations, but through utilizing all that my campus had to offer, I fell in love with the school. Something that I did to combat homesickness is not only getting involved on campus but creating a phone call schedule with my family before I left. Everyday I would call someone in my family and it made my days so much better. Still knowing that my family was there for me even though I was 8 hours away was huge. Never be afraid to reach out and utilize the resources that your campus has to offer.