Transforming College Struggles

TRANSFORMING COLLEGE STRUGGLES 

Apart from battling Decepticons and saving the world from an endless war, transitioning to college can be one of life's toughest challenges. In the movie Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, Sam is thrown into a whole new world (and no not by Megatron). He is beginning his journey as a College student and is faced with many struggles even from day one. Many of these struggles can be emotionally, psychologically, and mentally stressful for first years. Sam is the perfect example of a first year student embarking on the transition into college life. 

Struggle 1: Dealing with heartbroken parents 

Moving in to college can be stressful. Besides having a whole army of Decepticons coming after you, parents may not be quite ready to leave their baby. While packing, Sam's mother has a nervous breakdown. She can't bare to think about her son going off to college. She begins to cry and takes out her frustration on her husband. Once arriving to college she seems more at ease. 

As Orientation Leaders, we have to be able to empathize with              parents because just like Sam's mom, they may not be ready to let go. We need to maintain our role as orientation leaders and make sure they follow rules, but at the same time respect their emotions. When it comes time for parents to leave we must reassure the parents their sons and daughters will be fine

Struggle 2: Getting accustomed to a new roommate and a residence hall style of living 

Another stressful aspect of college can be living in a residence hall and sharing a room with another person who you may or may not get along with. Sam's roommate Leo ends up owning a conspiracy website related to the Transformer's existence. This fact of course makes Sam feel really uncomfortable seeing as he has been in the presence of real Transformers already. Leo has a crazy set up in the room that Sam is no okay with. 

As Orientation Leaders, it is our responsibility to make the transition from living at home to living on your own as smooth as possible. We must let the students know that if problems arise we will always be willing to help out a hand and there are resources on campus that are there to help as well, like their own floor Resident Assistants.

Struggle 3: Adjusting to classes 

Getting used to college style class schedules and managing your time can be difficult for a first year. Sam is really stressed out in his astronomy class. He can't seem to focus, mainly because he starts seeing and scribbling visions of Cybertronian symbols. He suffers a mental breakdown and it already seems like his fellow students do not like him. Making friends is already on a path to destruction. 

As Orientation Leaders, during orientation we must make it known that classes will be more difficult to handle in college. First years are more susceptible to stress because they are not used to doing things for themselves and time management can become torturous. We are there to advise the first years in hopes of making a positive and meaningful impact on their first semester in college. 

Sam definitely gets off to a rocky start. Not only are Decepticons plotting to capture Sam in order to gain access to the Matrix that can make them powerful, but Sam also has an overly emotional mother, a strange roommate, and embarrassed himself in his first class at college. If only Sam had a wonderful orientation leader he could go to. Orientation leaders may be not able to help you save the world from Decepticons, but they can make transitioning into college smoother and less stressful.