As a freshman in a sea of 1,600, growing up is hard to do

That mystical moment the near future held all summer, the one I waited patiently and impatiently for was finally here. It was move-in day, Aug. 23. I had my sights set on this date since the moment I received that acceptance letter, when the next chapter of my life would finally begin.

Anxious and nervous, but mostly excited my family and I packed up the cars and headed towards Seton Hall.

As we made our way to South Orange and pulled on to campus, I came to realize how many other people were feeling the same way I was.

So many lives, so many stories all bunched together on one day, waiting to turn the same page.

The feeling was surreal, that grueling uncertainty which had gnawed at my stomach for months was finally gone.

The time to start a new chapter was upon us, every single one of the people that were a part of the largest class to ever enter Seton Hall now were faced with the real­ity of life on our own.

Responsibility became evident from the very start. Being an in­coming freshman already writing for the school newspaper, not to mention I already secured an edit­ing position; it was for sure going to be a heavy work load.

No more did I have the comforts of my mom, who worked at the high school I attended, over my shoulder about doing my work or telling me to stay focused.

No longer did I have my aunt as my English teacher, always right down the hallway to lend advice or her blunt, yet loving, words of wisdom.

Nope, all those comforts had come and gone. It was now up to me, it was make it or break it time. There was nobody to blame if I couldn't succeed.

That was a lonely feeling at first, being on my own with nobody around that really knew or had any connections with. I knew how important it was to stay on the right track this time around, and not get myself caught up in the same things that I did in high school.

Those things had ultimately derailed my senior year performance, so I knew that it was of the utmost importance to not slip up again.

Seeing how it has only been two weeks, I know there is still room for error, and for things to go wrong.

However, I believe that a main part of everyone's college fresh­man experience is to grow, evolve, and develop that sense of maturity that allows us to choose between the right and wrong.

Dennis Chambers is a freshman journalism major from Mantua Township, NJ. He can be reached at den­nis.chambers@student.shu.edu.