The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: College Experience

  • Dorm students cling to the college experience

    Dorm students cling to the college experience

    Students living on-campus concerned as Humboldt County enters the red COVID-19 tier

    Students living in dorms, on-campus at Humboldt State University received a sliver of the college experience offered in a normal semester.

    Eli Farrington, an undeclared freshman, came to HSU to escape an unhealthy home-life and an unsafe place to live during the pandemic.

    “I think it’s pretty safe [here], compared to where I came from, which is Oakland,” Farrington said. “Which is way less safe in terms of corona.”

    Farrington enjoys having a triple suit all to himself, but he’s nervous about sharing common areas and only goes into the kitchen to do his laundry. Having little in common with his dorm mates, Farrington spends much less time interacting with people than he expected on a college campus.

    “They put me in Tan Oak, which is the student athlete dorm and I’m not a student athlete at all,” Farrington said. “I don’t really have any friends in my dorm.”

    His appreciation for the nature surrounding campus, having friends from Oakland that came to HSU this year and family tension, Farrington plans to continue living on campus in the spring.

    “I’d rather be here than stuck at home with my parents and also [a lot] of my friends have gone off to college too so there’s nothing really waiting for me at home,” Farrington said.

    Lake Mcleod, a political science major, is another freshman experiencing college life behind a screen of a laptop. Mcleod came to campus intending to live every ounce of the traditional college experience as possible.

    “Being here is helping me experience new things,” Mcleod said. “Personally, for me, back home is a different phase that I’ve moved on from. So, being here, I’m able to grow into the person that I really wanted to be.”

    Given that the university has restricted student interaction opportunities this semester, Mcleod feels more of an emphasis should be placed on the behavior of students on campus.

    “I feel like most people are staying as safe as possible but I’ve still seen huge groups and things that are a little questionable,” Mcleod said. “Which the university can’t control everybody, but I feel like it could be a bit better in terms of restrictions.”

    Mcleod’s main concern is the lenient testing regulations for students who leave the area and interact outside of their bubble.

    Students living in the dorms were only tested upon arrival back in August. All testing and quarantining currently operates under an honors system but, Mcleod has personally met people who’ve broken it.

    “Random people that I’ve talked to have said ‘oh yeah, I’ve been here and there’ and it doesn’t sound like they’ve been tested when they come back or they haven’t really been social distancing,” Mcleod said.

    Mcleod was also bothered by HSU hosting San Jose State University’s football team earlier in the semester. Considering how dorm students are restricted to host guests from other areas of housing and no more than two people are allowed at a table in the J’s dining area.

    “I feel like it was hypocritical in a lot of ways,” Mcleod said. “Having a whole football team here from a different county, from [a place with high cases], for them to come over here where we had low cases, that didn’t really sit too well with me and a whole bunch of other people I know.”

    River Ruiz, a political science major, has been living in the dorms for the past three semesters. His biggest reason for returning this semester was his on-campus job with HSU dining services. His experiences this semester led him to begin searching for other employment opportunities.

    “They need to make a lot of improvements,” Ruiz said. “The population is dwindling a lot, so the current workers, they like overload [them].”

    Ruiz will be making separate trips home to Southern California for Thanksgiving and Christmas because he needs to work between the holiday breaks.

    “It’s just crazy,” Ruiz said. “Cause you’re scared that you might come in contact with someone and you can’t go home because you have to quarantine.”

    No longer having the same access to extracurricular activities, Ruiz is grateful to have work as a distraction from school, despite the risks and drawbacks of this semester.

    “I know a lot of people that live on campus and go to school, they just stay here all the time and they don’t really have a good college experience,” Ruiz said. “[This semester is] kind of depressing, but it’s a depressing time and everybody’s getting through it.”

  • Navigating the Pressures of the First-Generation Student Experience

    Navigating the Pressures of the First-Generation Student Experience

    First-generation students must look outside family for support

    Usually, students talk with parents, siblings or friends who have attended college in the past to gather information and paint a picture about college classes, professors and the overall college experience. For first-generation students like myself, that’s not an option.

    Being a first-generation student means you are the first person in your family to go to college. Your family members have no prior knowledge about college, the application and selection process, or what’s going to happen in the months prior to attending.

    First-generation students feel the pressure of learning to balance living on your own, being successful in college and working a job all at the same time. For Destiny Aguilera, a second-year theatre major, the help they needed was provided by a high school instructor.

    College is a time of self discovery.

    “My greatest struggle has definitely been finding myself,” Aguilera said. “College is a time for learning, experimenting and growing as a person. As a first-generation student, it is also a time to work multiple jobs and try to support oneself as best as possible, with as little help from family as they can provide.”

    The pressure to be successful and independent to avoid burdening parents financially heightens the expectations of the college experience.

    “Having that pressure of taking care of oneself added to the mix makes it difficult to take time to breathe and learn more about who I am and who I want to be,” Aguilera said. “That being said, it’s not impossible. Just within recent months I’ve been able to discover that I identify as nonbinary and use they/them pronouns. I have college and allies to thank for that.”

    College is a time of self discovery.

    Natyvidad Landeros, a third-year biology major, got help with applying to colleges through a high school class created to help students prepare for college.

    “I took it junior and senior year,” Landeros said. “They helped me with the process of applying. If it wasn’t for them I don’t know if I would have got into college.”

    Javier Hernandez, a political science major at HSU, also prioritized resources outside his family to pick the school that fit his needs.

    “I joined these college programs which helped other first-generation students like me to guide me through the process,” Hernandez said. “To take me to other college campuses and learn about the recruitment process and all the details that I needed to know applying to colleges.”

    College is a time of change and immense amount of pressure. This pre-college experience is only heightened for first-generation students who have to navigate blindly and on their own. High school classes or staff, friends and independent interests can be helpful guides.