Junwon (Junie) Park ‘25 has recently realized he doesn’t have much time left in college. Consequently, he’s frantically pushing out op-eds with unsolicited advice to impart to the underclassmen. If you’re lucky, you can catch him trying to finish an essay due at 11:59 PM while simultaneously DJing at a party. Contact him at jjpark06@wm.edu.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.
As we’re well into the second half of the semester, things are starting to get busier. From today until the end of the semester, we have to face a slew of quizzes, unit tests and ultimately, the dreaded final exams and essays. Long gone are the days of going over the syllabus and classes being spontaneously canceled. To make it even more personal, there’s probably a very good chance you’re not happy with your midterm grades in at least one of your classes.
Even outside of academics, students are scrambling to prepare for a variety of end-of-year activities. Acapella groups and comedy troupes alike are making final tweaks to their performances, school ensembles are starting to distribute call times for their concert dates and cultural organizations are scrambling to advertise their culture shows wherever they can.
Call me a twamp, but it’s wonderful to be busy and productive, especially at this college. There’s never a shortage of things on campus to procrastinate on your term paper with. There’s a good reason behind the stereotype of students at the College of William and Mary being studious and productive busybees. But sometimes, things can get stressful. When deadlines start to suddenly pile up as your professors conspire to coincidentally schedule all your tests on the same day, you start to feel overwhelmed. You have to study for all these quizzes, but you also promised to go to your roommate’s acapella performance on a Wednesday night. All of a sudden, it’s 1 a.m. and you gotta wake up early for your 9 a.m. vocab quiz.
Amidst all of this, I want to remind you that there’s a team of your biggest fans cheering you on 24/7. Your family! Though it was easier to do during orientation week, you’ll come to find out that a few months deep into the academic year, you haven’t called your family in an egregiously long time! Your dad may not readily admit it, but he misses you! Your mom might say she’s relieved to take a break from looking after you 24/7, but she misses having dinner with you. Whether it’s your parents, your siblings or even your dog, make sure you set time out of the week to call your loved ones, and tell them you love them. It’ll make their day.
Simply put, they’re all worried sick. For those who are sending their kids to college for the first time, it’s scary to send their child into an unfamiliar environment, hundreds of miles away from home. So do your parents a favor and FaceTime them, not just once, but often. (Now that campus is in full swing in the fall season, perhaps show them the beautiful fall foliage Williamsburg has to offer.)
Whether it’s for just five minutes or an hour or two, checking in with your family helps keep your parents in the loop on what’s going on in your college life (yes, that means the good, bad AND ugly parts of it). Calling your younger siblings gives you an opportunity to briefly give them a few tips and tricks to navigating classes, social life, living on your own, etc. Your older siblings will appreciate being able to briefly relive the college life nostalgia, even if it’s for a few minutes. Finally, your dog won’t care where you are. Your pets will just be happy to see you, even if it’s through a screen.
I admit, it might not be easy for some students to call their folks back home. Whether it’s personal grievances or political differences, it isn’t always easy to carry a pleasant conversation, especially over the phone. Despite this, I still implore you to reach out to your family and/or loved ones. After all, they’re still family. For fellow students for whom reaching out to family isn’t a feasible option, there’s a family here for you at the College (as cliché as it sounds). Reach out to your best friends, your professors or even the workers at Sadler and ask them about their day as you share yours. A brief check-in with any of your loved ones will be more than sufficient for not only them, but also for yourself.
I’d even go as far to say getting into the habit of calling your family does wonders for your mental health. Similar to journaling, calling your family often helps you review and process everything that’s recently happened. While you’re telling them all the things that you’ve done in college in the past week, you’re also giving yourself a mental checkpoint. You’re showing not only your family but also yourself where you’re at, how far you’ve come and the myriad of exciting things you’ll do and experience in the days ahead.
As a senior, I’ve had periods where I forget to call my family in an embarrassingly long time. Once you start getting adjusted to college, it’s easy to forget about home for long periods of time. In addition to being busy myself, my family will likely be busy in their everyday lives. Even if you reach out to them and spontaneously call, they might be busy doing errands, meetings or catching up on sleep. (Note: Avoid calling them at 2 a.m.). However, I’ve come to find that coordinating with your family and putting aside just a small amount of time to check in with the people you love will help you flourish and excel in your crazy, wild journey in college.