Same Place, Different Story

For Ryan Emery college has always been the goal. Graduating and becoming a practitioner of law is everything she dreamed of. She imagined every aspect of college the way any aspiring college graduate does. It’s a long list of things that she dreamt of, things like: what will it be like on her first day on campus? How many new friends she would make? Who will her roommate be in the dorms? Will they get along? Is the dorm food any good? Are there vegetarian options? These questions circulated her mind and she had created her own answers for how these questions would be answered. However, amid the Coronavirus pandemic her first year in college was not everything she thought it would be.

For Dom Castillo college has always been the goal. Graduating and working on prosthetics for handicapped individuals is everything he ever dreamed of. He imagined every aspect of college the way any aspiring college graduate does. The things he dreamt of: what will it be like his first day on campus? How many new friends will he make? Who will be his roommate in the dorms? Will they get along? Is the dorm food any good? Do they have healthy options? Dom thought through these things and had created his own answers in his head. The vision Dom created for himself when he imagined what it was like to be a CSU Ram came to fruition when he finally got there in the fall of 2016.

Walking into Braiden Hall on Colorado State University’s Fort Collins campus was supposed to be an exciting moment to begin the college career for Emery. With bedding and moving boxes in hand, she should have been elated to be on campus for the first time and thrilled to meet her new randomly picked roommate. That roommate, along with all of Emery’s other fellow Braiden Hall residents wore masks that made learning the faces of their new neighbors much harder. Dorm life in college is more than just having a place to live on campus. It’s about making friends and connections that you take through the entirety of the college experience and even further. All of the stressful times, all of the fun times and all of the restless nights studying for finals, these new companions are supposed to be the ones to get you through it. Those connections almost didn’t seem possible in this new normal for CSU freshman of 2020.

Walking into Edwards Hall on Colorado State University’s Fort Collins campus was an exciting day for Castillo and a “sweet” start to his college career. After moving his bedding and boxes of personal items into his new dorm room, Dom finally met his randomly assigned roommate. He was a quiet individual who was one hundred percent focused on school and making sure he did everything he had to to graduate with high honors. Luckily for Dom he had some friends from high school right next door in Ingersoll Hall. These once high school teammates turned best friends began their eventful and excitement filled college experience. Meeting new people, socializing, partying when they weren’t too busy staying up late studying for finals. Luckily for Dom, he had new people in his life to help him through it.

It is no secret that a four year university is no cheap expense for anyone. For students, especially freshman, college expenses are more than just tuition and books. There is also room and board and meal plans for the year. “The meal plans can get pretty costly,” says Emery, “which wouldn’t be as big a problem if there were more options.” With the university adapting to new procedures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 many of the services normally provided have not been. One of those services is fully operating dining halls. With less staff on hand, the food options are more limited than ever. “I find myself eating takeout more because I get sick of the food at the dining halls,” says Emery. Emery is a longtime vegetarian which limits her options even more for what she can have at the dining halls. “It’s not always easy to find vegetarian options and the ones I have here at the dining halls are not really that great,” says Emery, “it just makes justifying paying the meal plan bill harder.”

A four year university is not cheap, and that is no secret. There are more expenses than just tuition and books. One costly thing first year students pay for are meal plans at the university’s dining halls. These fees are not too bad to take on if you get the full experience, “I actually didn’t mind the dining hall food,” says Castillo, “it wasn’t the best obviously but we had a ton of options and it was pretty easy to change up what you were eating on a daily basis.” Castillo experienced the dining halls when they were at their best, with dozens of options for food every single day he didn’t have to stray too far to find a decent meal. “We had chinese food, pasta bars, salad bars and even a dessert bar that was always filled with options,” says Castillo, “we also had multiple dining halls opened throughout the entirety of the day so if we didn’t like our options at one hall we could go across the street and pick from the options there.”

One of the best parts and maybe one of the most important parts of college is the socialization aspect. Making friends is important to most college students and is actually a stresser for many incoming college students. “I know I was worried and a few other people I have become friends with were worried about meeting people in this climate,” says Emery. With classes at limited capacity and the placing of small classes into large lecture halls to accommodate for social distancing, making friends is harder than ever, “with all of the social distancing in classes and the lack of campus events, it is hard to meet people right now.” Emery has managed to make a few friends, most of which will be her future roommates, but not without its challenges, “I met them through a class group chat and just exchanging messages to help with assignments,” says Emery, “we have all been kind of like study buddies and that’s how we formed our friendships, it’s a strange way to make friends, and not super ideal, but it worked for me so I am lucky,”

Arguably one of the best parts and possibly even the most important part of college are the connections you make and the socialization. While the dorms were a great spot for Castillo to make friends as he did, he made some of his strongest connections through his classes. “Two of my best friends are people I met through my classes,” says Castillo. Alex McPheeters and Olivia Torres were both engineering students at CSU and met Castillo through the engineering program. “[Dom and I] have known each other for a while and finally started hanging out our fourth year and we have all just become good friends since,” says McPheeters. “Without socializing in class Alex and I never would have met or started dating and we never would have met [Dom],” says Torres. Since their friendship began the three engineers have gone on multiple vacations and have spent countless hours together partying and growing closer. “I have never had as tight of a friend group as I do now,” says Castillo, “there is a group of five of us who do almost everything together and it wouldn’thave been possible without getting a true, full college experience in the classrooms.

The college experience has not been up to par to this point for the 18-year-old Emery but she is not discouraged by her time at CSU just yet, “given the circumstances, this school year has shown there is potential for this experience to be great,” says Emery, “once all of this COVID stuff is over I think I can find myself really enjoying my time in college.” Although Emery can admit she does wish she could’ve had a normal college experience, she is still optimistic that this school year has provided a learning experience for everyone involved, “it is what it is… I think although I have missed out on some great things like going to football games or living the true dorm lifestyle, I think I have also had some experiences that I can learn from,” says Emery. For now this is the new normal, but Emery hopes that one day soon she will truly find out what it is like to be a CSU Ram.

Castillo is set to graduate next month, and while his final year and a half of his college experience was also affected by the ongoing pandemic, he says he has few regrets when it comes to his time at CSU, “I think the thing I regret most about my time in college is my lack of attendance at college events,” says Castillo, “if I could do it over I would go to more games, and more campus events.” When asked to give one piece of advice for younger students and incoming students, Castillo was reflective on his own experience, “just go to everything you can,” says Castillo, “even if it seems like it may be a dumb event or if you don’t like going to basketball games, just go. You are only here for a short amount of time and you don’t want to look back and regret not doing something because you thought it was whack.”