Halfway through their first year, four students reflect on Miami experience

By Elise Vasko, Staff Writer

The following is the third installment in a series following four first-year students through their freshman year.

They've been to Brick Street, grabbed late night snacks at MacCracken and taken their first college exams. But, for first-years Joe Anderson, Samantha Bosse, Rylan Hixslon and Becca Miller, the start of spring semester at Miami has presented new experiences and challenges.

Anderson, Bosse, Hixslon and Miller graduated from the same high school, Oak Hills, and all ended up at Miami. Yet, their paths have already begun to diverge.

Bosse said one challenge of starting the new semester was beginning an entirely new schedule of classes.

"I was kind of nervous to start all of my classes," said Bosse. "It's basically like starting the year all over again, but I was surprised how many people I actually know here already."

She said the most stressful part of the semester so far has been balancing her courses with her demanding dance team schedule. Bosse practices with the dance team five hours a week, and usually performs at one athletic game per week.

"All of my exams landed on last week so my whole schedule has been thrown off," said Bosse.

"The time commitment to dance team is really picking up because we go to nationals in April."

Because of her busy schedule, Bosse decided not to go through formal recruitment for a sorority. Miller also decided against joining a Greek organization because of the time commitment.

Miller stays busy with marching band in the fall and currently plays in pep band. She's also the vice president of her Community Leadership Team (CLT) in Symmes Hall.

"It's nice because you meet a lot of people and a lot of people in your dorm know you, but it's really hard to get people to go to your events," said Miller.

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The CLT-coordinated event Miller said she was most proud of last semester was a "puppies, pizza and cookies" event her CLT put on to help relieve stress during finals week.

"We had the therapy dogs come in and hang out with people and we ordered pizza," said Miller. "There were so many people there, it was ridiculous."

A change for Miller this semester has been her switch from a major in biology to one in middle childhood education.

"I wasn't as interested in biology as I thought I was," said Miller. "I was constantly flip-flopping in biology. I went from marine biology to forensic science to regular biology, and I just couldn't decide."

Miller said last semester she struggled to keep herself interested in biology. She said she felt her lack of interest kept her from succeeding, which led her to reconsider her major.

"One of the major challenges I've had is learning to deal with stress," said Miller. "Handling stress has been kind of rough."

On the other hand, Anderson said this semester has been comparatively less stressful for him, and he hasn't felt overwhelmed at any point. Anderson also did not choose to go through Greek recruitment, and is enjoying more free time this semester.

"In college you just have a lot more time to do your own thing," said Anderson. "In college you're definitely a lot more independent. It almost feels familiar now."

Anderson said he improved his study habits during his first semester at college.

"First semester, I didn't study as much as I should've and it really showed, so it was kind of a learning experience," said Anderson. "I'm definitely a lot more structured with my studying now. I have a calendar and I've been pretty good with marking due dates and studying before it's too late. I've been a lot more organized."

Hixslon, by comparison, has devoted much of his time to the theatre department at Miami. He recently performed as Charles Bingley in Studio 88 Theatre's production of Pride and Prejudice.

Hixslon said one of the challenges of his role was talking in a British accent. He said he enjoys acting because he sees it as an interactive form of education.

"You perform in a show, you're putting yourself in the shoes of someone that you're not, someone that could live a completely different life from you," said Hixslon. "You're understanding that person's brain and who they are … you get to understand their feelings."