Lyon College Blog

This coming weekend will be one of the busiest weekends of the year, second only to Scottish Fest in the spring; it’s Homecoming here at Lyon!  The actual Homecoming activities don’t begin until Friday afternoon, but we’ve had Homecoming stuff going on all week.  The annual Window Painting Contest in Ed’s went well as usual….if you haven’t checked it out, you definitely should.  Today at lunch, I caught a glimpse of the ogre from Shrek and the pumpkin carriage from Cinderella…very interesting stuff.  Also, the ever-popular “Hoop Dreams” will be held tonight in the gym.  The Scots and Pipers Basketball team will play some scrimmage games; there are drawings for all sorts of prizes and opportunities for quite a bit of audience participation.

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Well, we’re now about a week into classes, and things have started to get into a groove.  Freshman have had the luxury of being moved in by upperclassmen,  and gone then been through the un-luxury of the orientation process.  Later it is the fun of memorizing your new schedule and finding new classrooms for the first time.  At the same time, there is the getting aquainted with the roommate process, and building your raft with your mentor group for the raft race that just took place on Monday. It’s a lot to handle for the first week.

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One of the hardest, but also one of the most important, decisions that you’ll ever make is what college to attend after high school.  During the junior year of high school, the mailbox overflows with pamphlets and brochures from colleges….some sound interesting and some get immediately tossed in the trash.  If it’s a college that you don’t know much about, it’s good to do a little bit of homework-find out things like what degrees are offered, the faculty to student ratio, things that make the college unique, tuition rates, and the application process.  If, after evaluating those factors, you’re still impressed, schedule a campus visit or attend a preview day.

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Every time I move, I’m amazed by the amount of stuff that can fit into such a tiny space.  Things tend to accumulate over the school year and when it’s time to move out, there’s about three times as much stuff as when the year began.

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If I had to pick one thing that I don’t like about college, it would be having to take finals.  As much as I look forward to Christmas and summer break, I sometimes dread the approach of both because it reminds me that final exams lie in the near future. Some of my classmates may not detest finals to the degree that I do, but then again, they probably don’t procrastinate like I do, either. I have a tendency to put things off…when it comes to papers, lab reports, or final projects, I always think, “Oh, I’ll just work on it tomorrow.” Before I know it, all those “tomorrows” are gone, and it’s time to turn in all that stuff AND take final exams!

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Today I had the priveledge of performing a “key audit” for all the dorm rooms, which is part of my responsibilities as a summer RA.  Basically, once I organized the keys, I had to try every key in every lock to make sure that they actually worked.  Sounds like fun, huh?  Really, it was kind of a pain in the butt, but it’s something that has to be done!  I think I’ve gained a new appreciation for keys….

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What the heck is a house system? The house system really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense here at Lyon until you get here. Basically the “houses” are set up based on class. Of course there the beginning in the Freshman “quad” called Spraggins House. For many, you haven’t met a whole lot of people that are going to be in your class, so the roommate situation can be sort of a worry. Luckily, my roomie graduated with me from high school and we had been friends since junior high, but let’s be honest, we don’t all get that lucky. Sometimes, even after all of Student Life’s attempts to pair people with similar interest and habits, you end up with a roommate that isn’t exactly your style because let’s face it, it’s hard to match people up on just a piece of paper. That’s kinda the beauty of coming and living at a new place. You do actually grow from this and learn a few things. 1) You gotta accomadate from time to time. From this I mean, getting use to your roommates bad habits. For instance, I’m somewhat of a clean freak, but even though we’re good friends my roomie tends to just throw stuff around. All it takes to solve this problem though is a little communication and compromise - Big things to learn for the real world. 2) You’re not stuck with them for all four years. That’s right, you’re gonna get out and meet new people that you get along better with. Maybe that means that you go hang out with your new friend and their cooler roommate. Who knows, but what’s garunteed is that you can find someone else that you fit better with and room with them the next year, or if you’re really that picky -  go for a single. It all works out in the end though and my roommate and I have made it through three years and ready to live it up for our final year.

When I look back to my freshman year, I realize that being involved in a mentor group greatly eased my transition into college life.  I first met with my mentor group during one of the summer accepted students sessions.  I remember walking into one of the classrooms of the Lyon building, sitting down with the group, and thinking, “Wow, I’m going to be spending the next 4 years with these people!”  College was no longer something in the future; it was a reality.  We sat down and did an ice-breaker activity which allowed us to share a bit of our personalities with the group.  I remember being amazed at the diversity of those in my group; we were all from different backgrounds and were working toward different goals in life.  When classes began, our mentor group met once a week for class and attended various functions and assemblies as a group.  Some of the friendships that I now treasure came from the relationships built within this group.  My transition into the college world was greatly aided by the relationships that I developed with members of my mentor group.  Whether I was walking down the sidewalk or walking into the cafeteria, they were friendly, smiling faces that I recognized and could depend upon!

Things can sometimes get a little overwhelming during freshman orientation.  There always seems to be somewhere you have to go, something you have to do.  When I was a freshman, I remember wondering why we had to be so busy…I mean, my goodness, classes hadn’t even started yet and I was already worn out!  Now, I realize that actually it’s good to stay busy during the first few days on campus.  It’s very important to be able to socialize and develop relationships with your classmates at the onset of the semester.  For me, staying busy helped quell that sense of homesickness that I might have otherwise experienced.  Ok, so getting back to my original point…:) One really great event that occurs before the start of classes is Club Carnival.  At this “carnival”, various clubs and organizations on campus host a table that contains information about who they are and what they do.  It’s great to just walk from table to table and visit with the upperclassmen.  If you think you might be interested in a particular organization, you’re encouraged to sign up and then information about meetings, etc. can be sent to you via e-mail.  You’ve heard it before–the more involved you are on campus, the more you’ll enjoy your college experience.  Honestly, I can’t reiterate this point enough.  Campus involvement helps build the sense of community that Lyon College is founded on, and it also helps you build leadership and communication skills that will be a big help in the future!