Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow
Annual ritual: parents bid their freshmen good-bye
Close to 4,000 freshmen arrived on campus last week, most accompanied by at least one parent. And despite the newcomers’ eagerness to start life on their own—and the parents’ relief at finally getting the car unloaded—there comes the inevitable moment that everyone dreads: saying good-bye.
“When students leave home for school,” says Margaret Ross, director of Behavioral Medicine at Student Health Services, “it’s often the beginning of a life transition, when they’re not going to be identifying home in the same way in the future. That’s a big deal for parents who’ve spent so much of their lives thinking about their children, planning for them, protecting them, and taking care of them.”
David Zamojski, director of Residence Life and an assistant dean of students, has some advice for freshmen to keep them from becoming too homesick. “I urge students to jump right in to campus life and begin making the connections that help with transition,” he says. “They should make connections to roommates, floor mates, house mates, professors, and classmates. Students need to connect with student organizations, too.”
For those students feeling twinges of homesickness and for parents having trouble getting used to that extra bedroom, remember: Parents Weekend is just six weeks away.
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