These questions are from Aiyana Wells, a new Hatter. If you have a question that you’d like answered by a staff member please send your question, name, and graduating class to [email protected] with the subject line “Dear Reader”

-Will I do well at school on my own? 

          Dear Reader,

As I’m sure you have heard a dozen times, college is one of the biggest transitions of your life and it is undoubtedly an intimidating one. Trust me, it is completely normal to feel a bit scared at the prospect of living and learning on your own for the first time, but sometimes it is a good reminder to focus on how exciting that fear can be. By going away to college, you earn this newfound sense of freedom unlike what a majority of high school was like. You design your schedule, choose your friends, interests, hobbies, and run your life in the way that you want. It is completely valid to fear being alone or making mistakes, but there is a sense of solidarity in the fact that everyone is or has gone through the same thing. College provides you the opportunity to reinvent, redefine, or simply grow from who you were, and the best advice I can give is just to allow yourself the grace to explore, try, and falter. Ultimately, you’ll come out of this experience a better, more developed you. So, get involved and be present, whether it be at student events, games, clubs, concerts, or just loitering in front of the CUB. You’ll find your people, because good energy will attract that same energy back. Do and learn as much as you can, because best case scenario, you will find people and interests you never knew you loved. 

• Ciara Kelley ’24 

-What will define my college journey?

Dear Reader, 

It’s good that you’re already thinking about what will define your college journey, because that means that you have the ability to start assembling a vision board of who you’d like to be by the end of this time in your life. Notice that I said vision board and not “map” or “game-plan,” because in my experience, life doesn’t care much about your plans. What will define your college journey are the broad goals of growth that you set up for yourself (think of Stetson’s core value of Personal Development). If you want to be a kinder, more purposeful, and more confident person, then I believe that you will be. If you set too specific a goal, like becoming a trial attorney, then I can’t promise that you’ll even still want that goal by the time your senior year rolls around — I sure didn’t!

• Carlye Mahler ’24

-How can I maintain a healthy work-life balance? (reagan)

Dear Reader,

It’s easy to imagine an endless workload before you begin college, but don’t worry yourself too much. Aside from exam weeks, coursework is relatively manageable. But as an incoming first-year student, you may have to adjust your study habits to achieve a good balance. In my experience, an integral part of this adjustment period was finding the right places to get things done. In other words, don’t make a habit of writing papers in your living space. Of course, your schedule may not always allow it, but try to keep your coursework contained to specific places–like the library–so that when it is time to relax, you can tune out of school and into your social life. Don’t be discouraged by popular images of sleep deprived college students; courses are designed to require a considerable amount of your free time, but you will still have time to get out there and experience the other activities school has to offer. 

• Reagan Shivers ’26