Written by Zack Silvas. Media by Ashley Chaney.
With a majority of the student body living on campus, you have to ask the question of which is better: home life or dorm life? Now this question is more aimed towards freshman since it is their first year and probably the first time they have had an extended stay somewhere other than their home. So with that, I decided to ask two of my teammates on the football team, Stephen Rulo and DeShon Wellington, how their first year being away from home and the transition to dorm life has been.
Rulo, who is from Jerseyville, Illinois, said that it was really different transitioning from home life to dorm life. “My whole life I’ve really been under my parent’s wing and being here by myself [with] a roommate for the first half of the year, but then by myself for the second half of the year, it was a really hard transition at first just depending on myself.” With learning to become independent, Rulo also had to make sure that he finished his homework on time and that he was getting something to eat since he did not have his parents telling him what to do 24/7. When I asked him what was the biggest disadvantage being away from home he said that you basically have to grow up. “The biggest disadvantage is just you gotta be on your own.” While having to be on your own is a disadvantage from some, Rulo does like the perks of living in the dorm. “The biggest perk is your independence. You make your own rules. So like you don’t have a curfew here. I mean, however you take that it either helps you by you got to know I got to get to sleep at a certain time or like, hey, I want to hang out with my friends tonight.” He also feels like since he has lived in the dorms, he has met many people from different backgrounds and he enjoys hanging out with these new friends. Since Rulo is now done with his final semester of college, I asked him whether he prefers home life or dorm life, and he said that he enjoys the dorm life because of how much he gets to bond with the people in his dorm.
I definitely prefer the dorm life because it really made me grow up and become a better adult. And then also just keeps me involved with the school and in my social life.”
Next up is DeShon Wellington, who is from Port St. Lucie, Florida, and he said that transition for him was difficult. “I never had a roommate and having a roommate made me kinda realize how to keep other people[s] consideration and [in] the single room…back at home, all I had was myself, so I definitely had to open my eyes to keep other people in consideration.” When asking Wellington if he would want a roommate or not he said that he definitely would because he wants to enjoy the college experience and that most people want a roommate at some point in their lives.
When asked about the biggest disadvantage and the biggest perk, Wellington said: “I’ll say biggest perk is seeing different personalities and [the] dorm. Seeing different people, knowing what each person is like. That’s probably the biggest perk. Just seeing different people and see how they act. That’s definitely the biggest. The biggest disadvantage would probably be seeing how people live and see how people…take care of themselves [and] if they don’t take care of themselves. And just from a different point of view, if you grew up taking care of yourself and you get a room with somebody who doesn’t take care of yourself, you’d be like, wow, that’s different. It’s probably, that’s probably the biggest disadvantage.” When I asked Wellington if prefers the dorm life or the home life, he said that he prefers the dorm life. “This experience is probably like a once-in-a-lifetime thing…It’s a blessing to be here, so I…probably think dorm life [is] because [of] the experience. It’s definitely the experience.”
As you can see, these two really enjoy the dorm life over home life because of the people they meet and also the experience that the dorm life has given them. To say the least, maybe you call your dorm your home now.
