In January, students in the Junior and Senior classes gathered to hear from a panel of CA alumni about their college experiences. This kind of conversation is meant to encourage CA students to step back and think more broadly about their future college experiences: how to approach classes, cohabitate with a roommate, choose a school that “fits,” and even make friends. Most importantly, we take a moment to hear alumni reflect on how they began a new journey and built a community away from our familiar CA home.
Panel participants came from a variety of recent years and included Ella Annest ’16, Camryn Beall ‘18, Liam Caplan ‘18, Aliyah Fard ‘18, Noah Henry ‘15, Julia Kelly ‘16, Loida Luna ‘16, Cecilia Needham ‘18, and Sebastian Skipwith ‘18.
Here are some sage words from this great group:
“At the club fair, you’ll sign up for everything and go to nothing! But try something new.”
“I live in a triple, and I didn’t expect that, but it’s been good. Having roommates those first few weeks on campus is helpful. You need someone to go to meals and events with.”
“The first few weeks on campus are not what the rest of the year will be like; it takes a while to meet your group of friends.”
“Once I started visiting colleges that I’d gotten into, I started to see that I’m glad there wasn’t just one school I got into; I could be happy at a lot of places.”
“For my gap year, I traveled around and developed an interest in Arabic. I’m so lucky to have found that. It was the best experience ever.”
“Rejection is a huge bummer. This is the first time that you’re going to feel like rejection might have a long-term effect on your life.”
Another student added, “You’ve got to say to it. It’s your loss, baby!!”
“With your first month of college, everything is happening, so it’s easy to spread yourself too thin. Make friends, but don’t try to do everything. Decide what you’re actually interested in and what you want to give your time to.”
“If you’re not super interested in clubs, get a job!”
“Managing your time in college becomes a lot different.”
“The cool thing about CA is that you have so much support and people looking out for you in such a small community.”
“You choose something, and you just go for it. Go 100% in. Whatever college you choose. It will be awesome.”