Advice offered to 1st year students

Apr 18, 2022 | Features, JRNL219

As the school year ends, students and faculty had advice for anyone starting first year at Humbner.

Time management is a must according to Humber College Professor Lara King.

One of the most daunting things about first year, is just how much you must learn to manage your time.

“Half the battle is being in the classroom, participating, and having discussions. Those are the students who will get the most out of it,” said King, when asked what advice she would give to first year student.

In a year filled with uncertainty, first year students at Humber College withstood their first semester that started predominantly online.

“Take care of your mental health first, and then you will do well in classes,” said first year ECE student Alyssa.

Mental health did take its toll on many Humber students. Professors were just faces on Zoom and learning from home has its obvious challenges.

The gaps in between classes were spent doing homework, and studying alone, and many students second guessed their decision to start school, and loneliness took its toll.

It was difficult for first years to immerse themselves in their classes, and many just thought they could coast by not showing up, something that King noticed was obvious in the first semester.

Second semester, things started to look up for first years, as classes slowly began to trickle back to in-person learning after the mid term break.

Classmates went from faceless names on Zoom, to lifelong friends.

“Making connections in the second semester is what really saved my mental health,” said first year photography student Robbie.

“I tried to talk to as many of my classmates as I could once I got back into the classroom, and that’s what made the biggest difference.”

Mature students who had decided to go back to school after several years of being in the work force, began to take on a leadership role with their younger classmates, and served as mentors to students who were at this point accustomed to online schooling for the past couple of years.

“The mature students bring so much to their programs, sometimes they don’t see it right away,” said King.

“They can serve as mentors to the younger students, but they can also learn new and younger perspectives from their classmates.”

Starting school in a global pandemic is something unique to all the first years finishing their semester this spring.

The support, camaraderie, and encouragement that has developed within each program at Humber is organic.

No one wants to see their peers fail and understand that they are all in this together. “I wouldn’t be here without the support of my classmates,” says Alyssa.

When asked what advice he would give to students next year, as COVID cases continue to rise first year electrical engineering student Massimo says “no matter what just keep on going! You can do it, even on the days that you feel like you can’t, you can.”