From corn to college
Of the many Morris grads continuing school, these three students are ready to move on
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| Ryan Wendling is leaving for Valparaiso University this weekend. Several of his family members attended the school, so he’s familiar with it. He also has friends that have already gone there, allowing him he get used books easily (below). (Herald photos by Adam Nekola) |
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Many of our area’s young men and woman are heading off to their freshman year of college this week, cars pack to the roofs with clothes, blankets and pillows, jackets, books and computers, and all the other necessities for living and going to school.
They are also taking with them their dreams and ambitions, excitement and fear, and anxiety of being all on their own for the first time.
Ryan Wendling, Valparaiso University
“I’m excited,” said Ryan Wendling, who graduated from Morris Community High School in May. “It’s going to be a whole new world.”
Wendling leaves for Valparaiso University in Indiana this weekend, aiming to major in electrical engineering with the goal of eventually working in a technological field.
He loved the campus of Valparaiso when he visited during high school, and his family has a legacy there, too. His father, an aunt, an uncle, and his grandmother all attended the Indiana university.
“It’s a small university,” he said. “It has more of a personal feel. There is more one-on-one with people. I like that aspect of it.”
Wendling said he’s not worried about being on his own. Although he has only been away from his family for a couple of weeks at a time at camps here and there, he said his family has raised him to be self-sufficient, and he believes he’s ready to handle life away from home.
Plus, he said, with cell phones and the internet, it will be easy to stay in touch.
Wendling said he’s been helping do the family’s laundry for quite a while and feels comfortable being able to do his own laundry at college. His father’s pretty good with cars, too, he said, and has taught him basic car maintenance. He’s had a savings account for a while, too, and knows the ins and outs of financial responsibility.
And Wendling has been making his own doctors’ appointments and going there himself since he got his drivers license.
Some of the things he bought or was given for college this year include bedding, towels, a desk lamp, a collapsible laundry bin, plastic plates and cups and silverware, and a dustbuster. He didn’t have to buy a new laptop. The one he already had will do fine, he said.
When asked what he thought the most difficult part of living away from home for the first time would be, he said probably not having someone there who can help him at the drop of a pin.
“My mom was always right there,” he said.
Erin Baum, Loyola University
Erin Baum, who also graduated from Morris last May, is already in her dorm at Loyola University in Chicago, and she loves it. Everything is a train ride or a bus pass away, she said.
Baum plans on double majoring in biology and chemistry, preparing for medical school. She chose Loyola because of its reputation for pre-med and because of its location and size.
“The freshman class is 2,300,” she said. “That’s just the right size for me.”
Baum has been away from home for a week at a time during summers on mission trips with the First Presbyterian Church. College was a little scary at first, being on her own with so many challenges ahead, she said, but it’s fine now.
“Our RA [resident assistant] is very nice and helpful,” she said, “and everybody is pretty much in the same boat. The entire building is all freshmen.”
Baum bought several items to take with her to college this year, including a mini-refrigerator and a microwave, sheets, a laundry hamper and several storage containers, dishes, and a couple of lamps. Her roommate brought the T.V., and, like Wendling, Baum will use the laptop computer she already had.
She’s had a bank account for a while, and knows how to use checks and debit cards. Laundry will be a breeze, she said, as she’s been doing it at home for a couple of years.
Baum said she thinks the most difficult thing this year will be managing her time.
“I have five classes,” she said, “and I want to sign up for several organizations. I have to remember to eat, too.”
She’s looking forward to making her own decisions and being independent, including regarding housekeeping.
“I don’t have to keep my room clean anymore,” she said with a laugh.
Megan Carlson, Illinois State University
Megan Carlson, also of Morris, moved into her dorm on the Illinois State University campus August 12 and has already begun classes with an elementary education major.
“I wanted a big school,” she said of the choice of her college. “I want to meet a whole bunch of new people.”
Illinois State has a very good elementary education department, too, she said. Carlson said before this, she’s only been away for home for short periods, such as at POMs camp, but she’s not going to be coming home every weekend, even though she’s only an hour or so away.
She is ready to begin her adult life.
“I really like it down here,” she said. “Everyone is super friendly and super nice.”
Carlson said she was nervous about the big move around a week before she left, when she was packing, but not anymore.
“Now that I’m down here, it’s awesome,” she said.
Her roommate, whom she met on Facebook before they moved in, brought the T.V., and Carlson bought the mini-refrigerator in addition to her books, some food, storage containers, a printer, and a new laptop computer. She went over the list of what to bring at the school’s housing Web site.
There was also a lot of what not to bring, she said, including irons and ironing boards, mixers, candles, and halogen lamps. They couldn’t bring microwaves, either, she said, but there is a microwave students can use on their dorm floor.
Carlson’s been paying for things and recording her financial transactions all summer, she said, to prepare for doing it all on her own this fall. She’s also been doing laundry for a while. She didn’t bring a car to campus. She won’t need one, she said.
“You walk everywhere,” she said. “Everything’s ten minutes away.”
Carlson said she thinks the most difficult thing for her this semester will be getting her schedule down, as far as classes, studying, and other things that will be going on in her life.
“I think setting my own limits might be difficult,” she said, “like when to study and when to go to bed.”
But Carlson said she is looking forward to being able to make those decisions on her own.
