2008 Woodie Awards
Sophomore year a time to embrace exploration
Christina Kiser
Issue date: 9/13/05 Section: Opinion
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We've heard it all before -- sophomores are solidly in the middle, neither here nor there, still trying to figure themselves out. We aren't new anymore; we've replaced last year's nervous anticipation of living with people we didn't know with the exciting expectation of living with the friends we've made.
We know, at least to some degree, how to juggle work and play. Yeah, we made mistakes freshman year, but we learned from them, and now we're good.
Sophomore year is all about being comfortable, situated and in our own little groove, with our friends, our classes and our social lives. Right?
Maybe not so much.
So far, sophomore year has been a little different than we expected. Hurricane Katrina threw the whole country a giant curveball. Here at Loyola, we welcome students from Loyola University New Orleans and Xavier University of Louisiana. Right off the bat, things have been less situated and comfortable than we thought they'd be.
We're also about to inaugurate a new president, Rev. Brian Linnane, which is another big, although eagerly anticipated, change to our community. There are a lot of changes this semester, and for sophomores, this may be a bit of a strange experience, because sophomore year is supposed to be the year of familiarity; the year that you're finally used to all the changes that happened freshman year.
We are now used to living away from home, to having two different sets of friends at home and at school, and to all the other little changes that you undergo as a freshman. Now we're back for our second year, and within our first week, we're seeing major changes in both campus life and the College's administration -- more major than anything that we faced first semester of our freshman year.
We're welcoming Father Linnane and the students affected by the hurricane with open arms. In the latter case especially, we're proving that we're living the Jesuit tradition of being men and women for others. We are embracing these changes because we know that they're for the good of the community, and as sophomores, we should keep right on embracing other changes too -- changes we can make in ourselves, and in what we do on campus and in Baltimore.
We know, at least to some degree, how to juggle work and play. Yeah, we made mistakes freshman year, but we learned from them, and now we're good.
Sophomore year is all about being comfortable, situated and in our own little groove, with our friends, our classes and our social lives. Right?
Maybe not so much.
So far, sophomore year has been a little different than we expected. Hurricane Katrina threw the whole country a giant curveball. Here at Loyola, we welcome students from Loyola University New Orleans and Xavier University of Louisiana. Right off the bat, things have been less situated and comfortable than we thought they'd be.
We're also about to inaugurate a new president, Rev. Brian Linnane, which is another big, although eagerly anticipated, change to our community. There are a lot of changes this semester, and for sophomores, this may be a bit of a strange experience, because sophomore year is supposed to be the year of familiarity; the year that you're finally used to all the changes that happened freshman year.
We are now used to living away from home, to having two different sets of friends at home and at school, and to all the other little changes that you undergo as a freshman. Now we're back for our second year, and within our first week, we're seeing major changes in both campus life and the College's administration -- more major than anything that we faced first semester of our freshman year.
We're welcoming Father Linnane and the students affected by the hurricane with open arms. In the latter case especially, we're proving that we're living the Jesuit tradition of being men and women for others. We are embracing these changes because we know that they're for the good of the community, and as sophomores, we should keep right on embracing other changes too -- changes we can make in ourselves, and in what we do on campus and in Baltimore.