Long on distance, short on troubles

By Meghan Patrick, contributing writer  
Posted on September 17, 2007

In state or out of state. Two labels, one assigned to each of the approximately 3,850 freshmen students at JMU this August.

Ashley Batterton and Carlee Lang, freshman roommates living in the Village, were also high school pals in Charlottesville. Batterton and Lang both agree that the decision to live with someone they knew prior to moving in.

“I didn’t want to take the chance of being assigned a crazy roommate, which would have made my freshman year extremely difficult,” Batterton said.

For Lang, having a roommate that she knew was more important than her decision to go to school one hour away from her hometown.

“I decided to stay in-state because of Ashley,” she said.  “I would have gone to Louisiana State University, if she had not been accepted here, as well.”

Batterton and Lang agree the ease of transition has a lot to with the individual rather than the circumstances of their move.

“I know a few people from out of state,” Batterton said.  “They had a hard time the first few days being away from home, but they are fine now.”

Dr. David Onestak, director of JMU’s counseling and development center, agreed.

“I haven’t picked up any noticeable distress from out-of-state freshmen,” he said.  “I could say that there is a slight benefit for these students in the pace that they make their transition, as their families and parents can’t make it to campus as easily or frequently.”

Julianne Wiggins, a junior from River Edge, New Jersey, was ready to be independent her freshman year.

“I feel that being six hours away never really had an influence over the ease of my transition,” she said.  “I feel that a person will learn very quickly whether he or she is a homebody. If you are not, like me, after a few days or weeks in a new place, you are going to start to feel comfortable.”

Wiggins describes her freshman experience as “unique.” Twenty of the 24 students living in her dorm, Magnolia were also from New Jersey.

“I don’t know if it was a coincidence or not, but I ended up living with a lot of people from my home state,” she said. “It was much harder, though, to learn to deal with living in a small dorm very far from everyone else at JMU, than to be from New Jersey. Our common background did little to resolve the awkwardness we all felt, from living so far away from the other freshmen.”

While Wiggins does not believe that her out-of-state status affected her life at JMU, she does think that it helped her transition into adulthood sooner.

“You don’t have your parents right there to lean on, to take you home for a few days if you get sick,” she said.  “Going home requires a lot more planning, it can’t really be a spontaneous decision.”