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Clarissa Mays

Professor Kellner

Introduction to Academic Literacies

11 October 2016

Fitting In

It can be very difficult to fit into new surroundings because Not knowing anyone is

intimidating and can be discouraging. It can make people feel overwhelmed and scared. These

feelings, while normal, do not last forever. Determination helps the anxiety go away. Kamellia

Soenjoto Smith author of Squeezing In, and I are alike in this way. We both had a fresh start,

although her start was with her new husband and mine was college. Smith recognizes how

difficult it is to adapt to new surroundings, and she reflects on her experiences trying to fit in and

meet new people in a new country. We both have had similar obstacles. Sometimes learning to fit

in is the biggest obstacle of all.

My name is Clarissa Mays. I am eighteen years old and I go to The University of

Cincinnati Clermont College for a degree in Criminal Justice. I am going into the Corrections

field and after that I want to get my law degree and become an attorney. Prior to this, I went to a

very small high school, Eastern Brown, which is in Brown County about 45 minutes from UC

Clermont. My graduating class included only 67 people. As anyone could imagine, the high

school was extremely small. Yet, this smallness made me feel at ease. Knowing everyone and

having friends made life at Eastern enjoyable.

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I also attended Southern Hills Career Technical Center. The school building was pretty

much fool proof. Nobody could get lost because all the classes for grades were grouped together

and electives were together. My school was the size of two auditoriums in this college. Pretty

good picture of how small it was? I took the program for Criminal Justice and excelled. Out of

21 in my program for Criminal Justice I was ranked third which was neat! It is very seldom for

girls climb to the top of a class where they learn how to shoot guns, and how to handcuff, and

how to do other kinds of masculine stuff. I definitely fit in. I now know I can complete the

OPATA (Ohio police officer training academy) and pass the course required for police officers in

the state of Ohio.

Well as anyone can imagine college consumed my thoughts and my biggest worry that

something would go wrong somehow, came true. The Friday before we were supposed to start

college, I was told I needed to have an emergency class change. So I drove to Clermont College

on Monday to talk to an advisor, who fixed my schedule. I had only planned on coming Tuesdays

and Thursdays; but I found out I missed my first day of math class. Since they didnt have the

math I needed for Tuesday and Thursday classes I had to come in on Monday Wednesdays and

Fridays! I panicked. My first day (which should have been my second) rolled around and I could

not find my first class. I was still lost after searching for 45 minutes. My first class I was really

nervous and didnt know how to take the professor, because I had heard so many horror stories

about professors. I realized after half the class was over that I really enjoyed how she taught. She

seemed like a teacher I would like and could get along with so I felt more comfortable. This

helped me feel more comfortable almost like I fit in!

Kamellia Soenjoto Smith and I are very similar with trying to fit in. Smith tells the story

of a new bride from a different country trying to feel at home in America. Smith moved recently
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to America to join her husband, in Northern Kentucky. She tells of her first journey alone to

Cincinnati. She rides the bus because she hasnt learned how to drive a car in America. She goes

to an English program at the library hoping to make new friends, she meets four women learning

how to fit in. On her way home she loses confidence and a woman comes by and drives her

halfway home. Our stories are alike. On my way to my second class I couldnt even find the

doorway. I found out that the class I was looking for was three doors down from my first class. I

was ecstatic to walk into class and see the same professor again as she is my reading teacher as

well. By the time this class ended, I was so stressed out and hungry. I decided to ask the girl

sitting next to me if she wanted to get lunch. She agreed and this gave me a boost of confidence.

I also connected with Catherine Gewertz in her article called First-Generation College-

Goers Try Campus Life. She cites Betty Torres transition from high school to college. Torres

went away during summer to take a few college courses. While there she made friends and it

made her actual transition into college for fall semester easier. Even though the college was not

the same as the summer program she went to, it made it easier to be outgoing in a place she

wasnt very comfortable with, not to mention that she knew how to handle the workload a

college environment would bring. Although Torres got homesick at times she was able to keep

her head held high with all of the things she was involved with. I had the same issues with my

transition as she did. It is really hard to go from a high school where I knew everyone in your

class since Kindergarten to going to a college where I knew nobody. I never saw or knew

anybody from my old school and couldnt rely on my parents.

I was really feeling down and I was glad to finally meet a friend that I would be able to

go to lunch with. While at lunch I found out she too was stressed. Being a first year college

freshman is scary, and we were glad to be able to talk about our thoughts on our first days
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together. After we got back we went into the learning lab and even though it was the first day we

had homework.

In the article Overcoming Freshman Fear, David Kirp, University of California Berkley

professor states many freshmen doubt that they have the necessary brainpower or social

adeptness to succeed. Feeling unprepared or being a first generation college student can have its

challenges. Kirp believes the good news is that this dismal script can be rewritten and, students

can find ways of learning that helps them do well in college. One thing to help many freshmen

feel more at ease is to talk to upperclassmen and professors and make new friends. Now, after

making friends and knowing my professors, there is no place I would rather be! College teaches

you to adapt to new learning styles and ways of thinking. Even though my parents did not go to

college and cannot help, there are tutors that do everyday in class. This makes me feel more at

ease.

When my next class started a man walked in and I will never forget thinking to myself

wow this teacher has excellent fashion style. He was dressed in a black cardigan with a white

button-up with black polka dots. I absolutely thought he was the most interesting person to look

at. On the first day he told us he was fluent in French. I was impressed, not to mention the fact he

just was so nice and polite I thought ,Wow, this could be a good class too. I knew everybody

and I liked the teacher. This was a bonus. Even so, I realized college would be a lot harder than I

had anticipated because of the homework I had in every class.

Kamellia Soenjoto Smith recognizes how difficult it is to fit into new surroundings.

Smith reflects on her experiences trying to fit in and meet new people. I too have realized it is

difficult to fit into some situations at times. Smith and I had a boost of confidence when we had

someone to pick us up and help us out. She had the lady who took her halfway home, and I had
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my friend who made me feel comfortable. I now am determined to make this work. I have

learned college is hard but life is hard and you need to work as hard as you can. If you only have

100 percent to give you need to give 110, that is the only way you will ever fit in!
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Works Cited

AMOAH, MARQUITA. "Starting college means growth plus learning." New York
Amsterdam
News 25 Aug. 2011: 33. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.

Gewertz, Catherine. "First-Generation College-Goers Try Campus Life. (Cover

Story)."
Education Week 35.36 (2016): 1-15. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11
Oct. 2016.

NAZEMETZ, ALEXANDER. "TRANSITIONING From High School To

College." Collegexpress
Magazine (2015): 10-11. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.

TUCKER, GERI COLEMAN. "First Generation." Diverse: Issues In Higher

Education (2014):
24-28. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
June 1st 2011

Kirp, D. L. (2016, Aug 21). Overcoming freshman fear. New York Times Retrieved
from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1812664626?accountid=2909