Students Seeking Friendship

According to students, a better college experience comes with connection

Humboldt State maintains its unique character through its rural location and off-grid environment. This tight-knit community holds a rare and refreshing authenticity that can take some time to fully recognize.

With a small student body and independent style that defies mainstream media and trends, the HSU community tends to be accepting towards all students and individuals in general.

However, this experience doesn’t come without effort. Advice both to and from college students is to reach out and make connections, as it is said to be beneficial to a college experience. Second-year psychology major Analiise Calderon thinks the best way to connect in a college environment is in the classroom.

“Try and make at least one friend in every class,” Calderon said. “Always try and reach out because people are so open here.”

But not all connections and relationships work at first and college is a transformative period. Marlena McVey, a second-year art major, believes some things are meant to be temporary.

“Don’t think the very first person you meet is going to be your forever friend,” McVey said.

Maybe that is the case though, maybe the first person you meet on campus becomes your best friend forever. It happens, but McVey is simply sharing the recognition that not every connection is going to work out and that’s okay.

College cliques aren’t instantaneous and the reality is far from the clichéd Hollywood depiction. Individuality is valued in Humboldt and friendship, along with acceptance, comes easy with that.

“Humboldt is unique and open,” Maddie McCluskey, a second-year student, said. “I’ve never experienced and felt such genuine acceptance before.”

College is meant to be an experience, whether good or bad, and it is a place to learn lessons and continue to grow as an individual. Business major Shelby Cabral comments on what it is like during a night out in Humboldt.

“It’s down down to earth,” Cabral said. “It is definitely not the normal, stereotypical party scene. It’s more like whoever can come out, comes out and is getting together to genuinely have fun.”

Nightlife in Humboldt holds a more personal setting with house shows and live music as a popular weekend activity. It may not be the stereotypical college-night-out but it is get-togethers like these that help carry Humboldt’s character and charm.