Bridgewater Beginnings...and endings?

It's the first day of classes! Hooray!!! The campus is buzzing with questions, ideas, interests, and motivation for a great new year. We've been working all summer to prepare for this and now the day is finally here. However, something is unspoken...

I was contemplating the excitement of a new year when spending time with the incoming students at our Bridgewater Beginnings events yesterday. They attended IN DROVES to learn all about this new chapter of their career and the excitement was palpable while we listened to administrators, faculty, and students who offered advice for success. You look around the room and you can tell something new is beginning, but there are also some endings.

We focus a great deal on the excitement of coming to college for freshmen, but we sometimes lose sight of the fact that freshmen are also leaving a lot behind. A chapter in their lives is just starting, but another has ended and I'm sure that for many, managing the closure is tough.

What do you do about high school friends that want you to come
home every weekend when you just want to stay on campus?

What do you do when the person you dated in high school just
doesn't seem to be as fun to hang out with anymore?

How do you navigate things at home when your parents just
don't seem to be catching on to how to help you manage your lifestyle in
college?

To all of my first year student friends out there, I know that these endings might just be as important to manage as the beginnings have been this week.

To all of my experienced students out there, how about some advice for our new Bears? Got any tips on how to manage the high school life that you've left behind?

Have a great first week... and post some comments please!