Freshman year for any college student is naturally nerve-wracking, but it is only intensified when moving across the entire East Coast as a brown, queer, low-income, first-generation college student such as myself. Due to these factors and more, I had gone into Bates College blind. With no visits and no guidance, I put all my eggs into this New England basket and had to hope for the best whilst preparing for the worst. Luckily enough, my expectations were completely exceeded and then some! From intellectually stimulating classes to wonderfully tight-knit communities all housed on a beautifully historic campus, Bates gave me an extraordinary first semester.
I was originally attracted to Bates for the same reason most people are: its phenomenal academics and aesthetics. I respected the institution so much, in fact, that I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the acceptance letter. Nonetheless, after many hours of freaking out with friends and family, I enrolled at Bates college and after a short summer I was here! As a Kessler Scholar (a Bobcat First Program that provides holistic support for a diverse community of high-achieving students who are the first in their family to pursue a four-year college degree), I moved into my dorm on Aug. 27 and have been making memories ever since. I remember doing my Kessler pre-orientation campus tour and being completely captivated. I felt small in front of the college buildings, all older than me and most of my loved ones. However, in feeling small, I felt that I could get lost in this wonderful new world. Even with the heat wave that accompanied the beginning of the school year, I was happy every time I traveled across campus. With traveling in mind, AESOP was a truly wonderful experience.
My chosen AESOP experience was the Film Festival, headed by Zachary Weinstein and Quinn Hughes. In it, we made a short horror comedy mockumentary and it was some of the most fun I’ve ever had. Throughout the writing and filming process, I made close friends, discovered campus locations, laughed more times than I could count, and even took in the beautiful sights of the Portland Headlight. Seeing our movie afterwards always makes everyone laugh out loud and I’m always happy to see anyone from the crew. After the dream of AESOP came real life, classes.
Admittedly, the idea of classes terrified me. While I was of course academically proficient enough to get into Bates, I was worried I would find real college classes more difficult than any AP or dual enrollment class from my high school days. However, I ended up being pleasantly surprised! While high school focused greatly on busy work, all of my classes at Bates were quite different. Contrary to high school, my courses at Bates encouraged deep thinking on various topics and facilitated it through conversation and meaningful assignments. Instead of doing definition sheets for words I knew in the fifth grade, I worked through hefty academic texts and actually learned about topics that interest me. It all felt almost unreal.
I was finally in a place I had dreamed about my whole life, college across the country. When you come from where I do though, no one really gets opportunities like this. Due to that among many other internal factors, it started to feel as if I didn’t deserve the life I now had. Luckily enough though, Bates College is much different than where I grew up. Within 48 hours I was able to see someone at CAPS which helped tremendously. On top of that, the friends I made during my short time on campus were leagues more supportive than back home. Given just a month, I was able to dispel those feelings of doubt from my soul and go into the rest of the semester with a smile on my face.
After the initial newness of everything, time started to rush on by. Every alumnus I’ve talked to told me how fast college happens, but I never believed them until it happened to me. Ten weeks came and went in the blink of an eye, and I went from a lost Floridian to the best version of myself. My first semester at Bates has been turbulent, educational (in every sense of the word), and above all else, perfect. I wouldn’t change a single thing about the time I’ve spent at Bates, and I can’t wait to see where my future here takes me.
