Hello everyone, my name is Hailie Lewis and I am currently a junior here at Missouri Western! I am a nursing major, and I look forward to starting my first semester of nursing school this fall! I am going to give you the inside scoop on how to survive something that plagues many new incoming students: HOMESICKNESS. 

I always knew that after high school I would be attending college once I graduated, but the actual act of going to college always frightened me so much! I am a first-generation college student so I knew absolutely nothing about college. On top of that, I was one of three people from my high school that attended MWSU, so I also didn’t know anyone or anything in St. Joseph. I dreaded going to college because all I could think about was how difficult of a transition it would be for me.

When move-in day came I had already cried a couple of times before we even made it to check-in at the residence halls. Long story short after I got settled, my family left and I was a MESS. I called my mom that night, crying again, and she told me it was time for me to jump out of the nest, and I could choose whether I would fall or fly. So on the second day of Griffon Edge, I took my mom’s advice and started talking to more people in my group. AND BOY I am SO GLAD that I did! I met two girls that day, they soon became some of my first and best friends that I have ever made in college. And it turns out they were just as nervous as I was about it all! During the first couple of weeks, us three went to most events that MWSU held because we all wanted to get involved on campus. Eventually, we decided to go through Panhellenic Recruitment together, where we ended up going to three different sororities. Even though we went in different ways, we still had almost daily coffee dates at Starbucks and study sessions in the library.

Eventually, I started to stop feeling homesick all together, getting involved on campus played a big part in that. To this day I thank those two girls for SO MUCH, without them I feel like things at MWSU would’ve gone much differently for me. All together my biggest piece of advice to those who are worried about leaving home is to just take the leap of faith. You are going to feel so uncomfortable at first, but those are the environments that you grow in! And nine times out of ten, your peers feel the same way, so yes, it may feel mildly uncomfortable reaching out to new people, but those few hours of discomfort can lead to years of happiness with the group you found because of it. 🙂