The lifestyle story, "Commuter students face unique challenges," by Danielle Gorman talks about the issues commuters face. Living at school or a block away from campus, it is easy to forget that their are students commuting from home. This article made me think a lot about how the "Lehigh/ college experience" differs for a person who lives at home and commutes versus a student who lives at School.
Driving an hour to school everyday seems like it would seriously change the way a student went about his or her day. For example, the article says, if you forget a book, you can't run back to your room to get it. It also would be harder to fully use the schools academic and social resources. A commuter would have a harder time getting to a professors office hours and would have less time to socialize. Most of the time I spend socializing with my housemates happens at random moments during the day. I might see them when I am running off to class in the morning, when I stop home for an hour lunch break, and most frequently at night, when I take time to unwind. If I had to drive to and from school I may only have the minutes before and after class and possible lunch to visit with friends.
Here is the link to the article:
http://media.www.thebrownandwhite.com/media/storage/paper1233/news/2009/02/24/Lifestyle/Commuter.Students.Face.Unique.Challenges-3643391.shtml
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I definitely agree--I think it would be difficult to live at home and still have the same friends and experiences. Despite some comments that the interviewed students made (that they do not think their life here would be entirely too different) I find this hard to believe. Even for the student who said he has already experienced the "dorm life" in boarding school, I still think it is different--now we are older and tend to make more stable, meaningful relationships with our friends...it is not just always about partying and drinking. I think some of the closest and most trustworthy friends I have kept have been the people I have lived with the past few years, and therefore spent the most time with. Some of these friends I refer to are also students of completely different majors than mine, and I doubt we would have met any other way. I'm sure many people would agree.
ReplyDeleteI am originally from the Valley. When I found out that I got into Lehigh, I was ecstatic, as I'm sure everybody was. My parents gave me a choice -- either live on campus at school or my parents would buy me a new car so I could commute to school everyday. While the car might have been the more economically smarter option, I couldn't imagine commuting to school everyday. I would not have met the great friends that I have nor would I have met my boyfriend. Him and I got to know each other by hanging out either at my place in Brodhead or his place in Trembley and our relationship would have never developed if I lived at home.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the experience you get from commuting to school and living in a dorm would differ greatly. Since I am an international student, living at home is not really an option for me. Although at first it was difficult to adjust to being so far away from home, I'm glad that I had the experience. I know that if I didn't stay in a dorm, I would not have built as close relationships as I have. Also, living in a dorm really helps you to learn to become more independent because you have to do things (laundry, buy groceries etc) by yourself.
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