A great big sigh of relief swept over me the night before classes started. I was relieved all my residents had successfully moved in and they looked like bright and shiny students ready to tackle the academic world of USC. My bright and shiny students faded rather quickly within the first week of classes. From residents asking if they could switch rooms because the sunlight didn’t shine upon their faces in the morning or the innocent posters that had quickly been ripped off of their walls within the few days they graced my dorm’s hallways, I was ready to seek out the master key to my dorm and lock out all my possessed freshmen residents.
They made me sit down and question their acceptance to college. This is the graduating class that I might have to compete with in the future? If this is the case, then I have nothing to be worried about. In fact, I might be able to put off graduating plans and stay in college for a couple more years. As the first week was coming to an end, I sought out an escape from my little horrors. I ventured over to Strom. Life plans have been contemplated and even changed after a session at Strom.
Somewhere, in between running laps and glancing over at the eye candy in the weight room, I couldn’t help but smile and also scold myself at the same time. It seems like whenever we humans reach a certain point in life or even obtain some sort of responsibility holding position, we in turn forget where we came from. I’d quickly forgotten the scandalous life I lead as a freshman.
For starters, I never bought toilet paper during my freshman year. I grabbed what I could from the public bathroom downstairs. (Deepest apologies to USC Maintenance). I also scowled at my resident mentor after she came around and asked if my friends and I could quiet down. (It was only ten girls jammed in a two person room; I don’t know why she was complaining). I thought I could practice my pre-law skills by debating with my RM about why she should allow me to let my boyfriend spend the night because he was way too drunk to drive home even though I knew I lived with a roommate who hated overnight guests ( It didn’t work out and I changed majors shortly afterwards). I obnoxiously complained every time I had to swipe my card in or sign in guests. It was a headache and it was my freshman year, “Aint nobody got time for that”.
My top priorities during my first semester as a freshman were to enjoy life to the fullest. There were no longer any curfews or rules. I had finally arrived to the epitome of my life. Just because I called home around 7 p.m. didn’t mean I was in for the night; in fact, that was the beginning of my day at that point. The first semester of my freshman year changed my whole life. First of all, my partners in crime that rebelled alongside me against the stuffy rules of our resident mentor had become the five friends that I will probably cherish for the rest of my life. I remember late night drives to Charleston even though we had early morning classes the next day. Or the dumbfounded face I had when the RM on duty caught me trying sneak in beer cans back into my dorm room after a canceled tailgating session. Or running into a bunch of kids on the Horseshoe playing late night Frisbee and then purposely smoking hookah right next to the “Please do no smoke” sign.
GPAA couple of semesters and GPA boosting classes later, I’m a changed upperclassman. Academics are completed before late night ventures outside of Columbia. All alcohol is drunk in Five Points and just enough to get a couple of giggles and cheery faced pictures on Instagram. I buy my own toilet paper in bulk from Sam’s Club. Instead of ignoring the no smoking signs on campus, I participate in community service Saturdays to help keep the campus beautiful.
The bottom line was, I needed to get off the treadmill and head back to my little horrors. At the end of the day, they were not little horrors…they were humans. They were just trying to navigate the world and they were going to make mistakes. You have to make mistakes in life in order to learn from them. The best thing that I could do at this point was to make sure I was be there for every resident and not sit back and judge them. I’m here to be a mentor, not a life manager. As a famous poet/rapper/ former “Degrassi” star once said, “Started from the bottom now we’re here”. The ultimate question is how am I going to use the opportunity of being a resident mentor here at USC? Only time will tell!
But if one more resident locks their keys in their room at 3 a.m., I swear….