Anna Tooke Semester II

As previously stated in my first two civic issues posts, there is a steeply growing demand for the use of technological devices and online platforms and communication in educational settings. This has been exacerbated tremendously by the Covid-19 pandemic and remote learning. Although the use of technology in education is very beneficial in allowing students access to their education during these difficult times, it becomes an issue when not every student has access to either devices (such as laptops or tablets) or the internet. According to Forbes, 87% of families in America have internet-enabled devices, which means more than 1 out of every 10 kids does not have access to a device on which they can do their schoolwork. In addition, although the number of students with access to devices is still pretty high, only 73% of families actually have access to the internet. That means almost one fourth of students in America do not have the means to be able to access online school materials, communicate with their teachers and classmates, and most importantly during the pandemic, attend class via zoom or other platforms. This creates a growing divide between students who do and do not have access to technology for their education, allowing those who do to learn and thrive while causing those who do not to fall severely behind.

In this educational divide between students, those affected by not having access to devices or the internet are mostly lower income families. This creates a huge problem because students coming from a low income family are already at a disadvantage in having their needs met, and when they do not have adequate access to their education, they can fall behind. This, in turn, does not help those students to break the cycle of poverty because they are less likely to succeed in school and pursue higher level education that could help them to obtain more high-paying jobs and, in turn, provide for their families. So, a lack of access to education for lower income students just perpetuates and widens the socioeconomic gap in America.

In addition, many children of racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected by a lack of access to technology and the internet in education. According to Forbes, 27% of Native American students, 19% of African American students, and 17% of Hispanic students either have no access or only dial-up access to the internet in their homes, while only 7% of white students and 3% of Asian American students do not have internet access. This is clearly not proportional to the American population and demonstrates that racial minorities are less likely to have access to the internet, preventing these students from being able to be as successful in their education.

Besides those from lower income families or from racial or ethnic minorities, another group of students who are at a disadvantage in their education due to a lack of internet access is those living in more remote or rural areas. Many rural areas throughout the United States are too distant from larger cities and towns with internet networks to be able to connect, which can be detrimental to children’s education when it is reliant on an internet connection. For example, my aunt is an elementary teacher in middle-of-nowhere Ohio. She described how difficult it was to teach remotely during the pandemic because several of her students’ homes are too remote and they do not have a reliable, high speed internet connection to be able to keep up with zoom classes and accessing online school materials. These students, in many cases, then fell behind and missed a critical part of their learning, which could negatively affect their educational success in the future.

The issues regarding a lack of access to technological devices and high speed internet connections have especially come to light amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and remote learning, leading to several proposed solutions. One such solution is 1:1 device programs implemented in schools, providing a tablet or laptop to each student in order to ensure that they have equal access to devices to be able to complete their schoolwork. This is especially beneficial for lower income students who may not have the means to purchase an electronic device. One challenge regarding this, however, is that not all school districts have the funding necessary to be able to provide these devices, which, again, is detrimental to poorer areas. In addition, many organizations stepped up during the pandemic to donate devices to students in need, partnering with computer companies or implementing programs to recycle used devices to provide to lower income students. For example, the Andrew Hicks foundation, which I was a part of in high school, implemented such a program at the beginning of the pandemic by collecting used computers, refurbishing them, and providing them to students in the city of Chester, PA, where access to technology is lacking.

A solution proposed to address the issue of internet access for students is “universal connectivity” (Forbes), which would implement high-speed internet as basic community infrastructure. This would allow students in many town and city communities equal access to the internet in order to be able to access educational materials, reducing the gap between students of higher and lower income. However, implementing community-wide internet would also cost a lot, requiring sufficient funds to do so. In addition, this does not address the issue of students living in more remote or rural areas who would not be living in a closer community like this that has internet connectivity; it would be extremely difficult to address every inch of America in terms of internet connectivity. One possible solution to this problem is to have more flexible educational platforms, providing offline or downloadable materials to be able to keep up with schoolwork. However, this still doesn’t allow students to communicate with teachers and be present for remote zoom classes to receive direct instruction by teachers.

As you can see, there are many working pieces regarding accessibility of technological devices and the internet for educational purposes, disproportionately affecting students of lower income families, those living in remote areas, and many of racial and ethnic minorities, winding the educational gap in America. However, this issue has glaringly come to the surface during the demands of the Covid-19 pandemic in recent years, driving awareness and the necessity for adequate solutions in order to ensure every student is able to succeed.

References:

Addressing The Digital Divide In Education: Technology And Internet Access For Students In Underserved Communities (forbes.com)

Unequal Access to Technology Prevents Educational Equity – Giving Compass

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Remember back in Week 1 when I told you all the story about how I met Kelsey and became friends with her when she brought a group of strangers over to my dorm room? Well, one of those people was Kelsey’s roommate, Katie. Although it was not as much of a chance encounter as it was a “mutual friends” introduction, Katie was still a stranger who I met and who has since had a huge impact on my life. I did not know it at the time, but she was going to become one of my best friends.

That first night that I met Kelsey and her new friends, I knew right away that I was going to like Katie. She seemed like such a kind, genuine person and she was hilarious. Over the course of the next few weeks, Kelsey and Katie’s dorm room became our friend group’s main hangout spot, where we would often meet to do homework on the weekdays, trying to be productive but cracking up over the smallest things, and spending time together on the weekends as well. I particularly enjoyed when Katie was around (which was obviously most of the time) because she has a way of always making everyone laugh.

In the fall one of the things that really brought our friend group together was the football games and tailgates. All ten of us or so would hike up to the tailgate fields every weekend and have so much fun eating food and playing games at Katie’s family’s tailgate, and then cheering and going crazy in the stands at the games. Sometimes after late games, we would go get Chinese food and Katie always got General Tso’s chicken and would share a couple of bites with me. Looking back on last semester I am feeling nostalgic about all those crazy fun football weekends we had, and how they brought my group of friends so close together.

Since the fall, though, I feel like Katie and I have grown even closer. We often meet up to eat lunch or dinner together, often with Kelsey and  a couple other friends as well, spending way too much time sitting in Redifer chatting and laughing than we have time for. Katie is one of my go-to people to text about random things in my day, ask for advice/opinions, or just to spend time with, and I know that she always has my back for anything. I love being around her because no matter what’s going on in our lives, she always makes me smile and is so genuine.

As my last passion blog post for this semester, I know that this one was a little different because Katie was someone I probably would have met and become friends with anyways through Kelsey even without that first introduction. However, I still find it crazy to think that without randomly being placed in the same SHOtime group as Kelsey, I might not have met or become good friends with any of the people who I am friends with now, including Katie. However fate works out, I am glad it brought me the people that it did and I hope to continue meeting amazing new people throughout my time at Penn State!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently joined an a cappella group. I met all of the girls in the group at the first rehearsal except for one named Emmerson, who was in quarantine at the time. So, I did not meet her until the second week of rehearsals. At the end of rehearsal Monday night, the two of us introduced ourselves and then got a chance to talk for a while on the way to the birthday party of another girl in our group. She is such a kind person who has a passion for animals and wants to become a veterinarian, and we bonded over complaining about all the bio and chem courses we have to take! After that night we were friendly but it was not until THON weekend that we accidentally became closer.

It was around 9:30 pm Friday night at the BJC, and I was hungry for a chicken basket. So, my two friends and I took a trip to concessions and stood in the hallway gobbling down our greasy chicken fingers and fries. It was then that I spotted a girl walking by in a pink bucket hat and a tan “Savoir Faire” sweatshirt (the name of our a cappella group). It took me a moment to recognize that it was Emmerson! I called out to her and gave her a hug, and she explained that her club’s section in the stands was full so she was trying to figure out where to go to participate in THON. So, I offered to her to come hang out in our section for AED (my pre-health honors society) and she took me up on the offer.

I had never spent much time with Emmerson (since I had just met her the week before) so I wasn’t sure if it would be awkward talking to her. However, she fit right in with me and my other friend Noah and we had a great time jumping around in the stands of the BJC. I had been there since 4:00pm but we both had a goal to stay until 2:00am, so we kept each other going. Every so often we took a break to walk a few laps around the BJC, we shared a pint of bittersweet mint creamery ice cream, and stayed on our feet dancing the whole time! We ended up hanging out at THON for almost 5 hours and somehow never ran out of things to talk about. Finally, a little after 2 am, we walked home together in the freezing cold wind and made plans to get coffee the next day.

Although this friendship is a very new one that I haven’t had much time to develop yet, I can tell that Emmerson and I will become good friends over the next three years in a cappella together. It wasn’t necessarily a “hello to a stranger” that brought us together, but it was a chance meeting in a hallway of a chaotic place with thousands of people that made us bond.

While last week, I focused on the emotional and social issues dealing with the increase in the use of technology in education, this week, I would like to focus more on the impacts that excessive technology use has on physical health. With the stark rise in use of electronic devices in both the classroom and at home, should we be concerned about damage to physical health in children?

Although we do not yet know all of the long-term effects, one ongoing concern regarding excessive screen use is damage to eyesight. Several studies have been done to investigate some ways in which the increase in screen exposure in children affects their eyesight and the development of conditions such as astigmatism. According to a study on preschool-aged children conducted by the Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology in China, there was significant evidence to suggest that exposure to screens in the first few years of life was associated with an increased risk of astigmatism. This is a condition where there is uneven curvature of the cornea, resulting in blurred vision. This, and other similar studies, demonstrate the damaging effects that screen use can have on the visual system due to straining of the eyes, long periods of focusing up-close, and constant exposure to a visible light source.

In the past two years, during the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been an astronomical increase in the use of technological devices in education due to the necessities of remote learning. This sudden shift from a normal classroom experience to staring at a screen all day is having profound effects on the eyes of developing children. For example, I have a neighbor whose elementary-aged son experienced crossing of his eyes last year from too much screen exposure during remote school and had to undergo vision therapy to reverse the effects. I, myself, have experienced countless headaches, temporary blurriness of vision, and even a few migraines from staring at my computer screen for too long. These all seem like temporary side effects for now, but this issue is so new that we have no idea what kind of negative long-term impacts this increase in screen use for educational purposes is going to have on the eyes and visual system.

Excessive screen time both at school and at home can also affect children’s sleep. Many studies have demonstrated a connection between screen use, especially at night, and disruption of sleep. One reason for this is that blue light in screens suppresses production of melatonin in the brain, which normally contributes to “winding down” at night and inducing sleep. To combat this, many technology companies such as Apple have developed screen filters that automatically eliminate blue light in screens during night hours. Alternatively, blue light glasses can help to filter out harsh blue lights to reduce strain on the eyes. Another reason that technology use can have a negative effect on sleep in children is simply the distraction; if children (or people of any age) keep devices in their bedroom at night, they are more likely to spend time on screens at bedtime, and the distraction can cause them to go to sleep later, leading to sleep deprivation. In addition, more screen time can increase alertness of brain activity, making it more difficult for children’s minds to relax at bedtime and causing insomnia. Consequentially, all of these effects of screen use on sleep deprivation can harm children’s growth and development during such a critical period.

The stark increase in technological use can harm children’s musculoskeletal development, as well as contribute to conditions such as diabetes and obesity. This is because more time spent on screens creates a more sedentary lifestyle, taking away time spent outdoors, exercising, playing, and interacting with others. Less movement and exercise during critical growth periods can lead to the underdevelopment of bones and muscles, as well as children’s motor skills. This could potentially cause problems later in life such as an increased risk for injury and less coordination and motor skills needed for important tasks. A more sedentary lifestyle caused by increased screen use can increase risk for diseases in children and later in life as well, such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. When children are sitting at home or in school on computers or other devices all day, they are not spending as much time playing and moving around like in a more traditional school environment. In addition, online activities might replace sports and other activities for some children, further decreasing their amount of physical activity. This can establish a sedentary lifestyle that carries through into adulthood.

I have only highlighted a few of the many ways in which increased technology use, especially in education, is impacting the physical health of children. Going forward, it is important to be aware of these effects, especially on growing and developing children, as we do not yet know all of the possible long-term detriments to health. It is crucial for children to stay active and engaged, establishing good habits and avoiding too much screen time from a young age.

References:

IJERPH | Free Full-Text | Screen Exposure during Early Life and the Increased Risk of Astigmatism among Preschool Children: Findings from Longhua Child Cohort Study (mdpi.com)

astigmatism – definition and meaning (wordnik.com)

Children and Technology: Positive and Negative Effects | Maryville Online

Blue light has a dark side – Harvard Health

Some kindergartners are staring at screens for over 6 hours a day during COVID – Study Finds

It Turns Out ‘Screen Time’ Isn’t That Bad for Kids | HowStuffWorks

Oddly enough, my roommate and I went a whole month into school before we met any of our “neighbors” living right around us in our hall. We realized this but then thought it was too late at that point to go knock on people’s doors to introduce ourselves. However, one fateful evening, there was an obnoxiously loud noise coming from outside. I opened our door and my roommate and I peeked out into the hall to discover about 9 other girls poking their heads into the hall all around us. We looked around, remarking to each other and wondering what the loud noise was. Then, we all seemed to migrate into the hall and form a clump. One of the other girls pointed out the fact that it was crazy that it had been a month and none of us knew each other yet, to which we all agreed and started introducing ourselves. We shared our names, majors, where we were from, what kinds of activities we were involved in, and our contact info, and soon just peeking our heads out the door turned into an hour and a half conversation in the hallway! Well, that is, until we were reprimanded for gathering in the hallway and had to return to our rooms.

One girl in particular, Amanda, I had run into in the bathroom numerous times but never introduced myself to. However, I now knew her name and that she lived right across the hall! She and her roommate, Maddie, are two of only five freshmen on the lionettes dance team, which I find pretty impressive. Although the other girls were friendly enough, I really hit it off with Amanda. She seemed really sweet and down to earth and we share some academic interests in common. Soon after this hallway encounter, my roommate and I began the dreaded apartment search for next year. However, we were overwhelmed and had no idea where to even look. I knew that Amanda and Maddie had already started applying to apartments for next year, so I texted Amanda to ask her if she had any suggestions. I was surprised when she responded and said that she and Maddie would share an apartment with us next year if we were interested! We barely knew each other, but somehow my roommate and I knew from our first impressions of the two girls that we would get along well. Alas, about a week later, the four of us entered into a housing contract for next year!

Over time, Elena and I have gotten to know Amanda and Maddie more and more by getting meals with them, stopping by each other’s rooms every so often, and even going as their dates to the lionettes formal! I have grown closer to Amanda in particular because I feel like we have a lot in common, and we often run into each other either in the bathroom (haha) or at the dining hall. In addition, I recently joined an a cappella group called Savoir Faire. On the first day of rehearsal, one of the other girls in the group, Lilly, said to me, “you know Amanda right?” to which I replied, “yeah, we’re going to be roommates next year!” And then Lilly replied that she had met Amanda in one of her classes last fall and she is now one of her best friends! Talk about another crazy connection. Lilly is one of my favorites in the group and she and I are quickly becoming friends. I find it crazy to think that, even if we had not been in the same a cappella group, Lilly and I probably would have still met eventually through Amanda and would have ended up at least acquaintances, if not friends, anyways. Or alternatively, Amanda and I might have ended up becoming friends through Lilly anyways due to the a cappella group. If there had never been an obnoxious noise in the hallway that one day, who knows who I would be living with next year and if I would have ended up making these same connections anyway – maybe it’s up to fate.

Hello everyone! For my civic issues blog, I am going to write a series about the increase in the use of technology in education and, more specifically, some of the significant impacts and tradeoffs regarding physical and emotional health, children’s social development and learning, and lack of access to technology for educational purposes. In this first blog post, I would like to tackle the issue of the effect that an increase in technological communication has on the development of social skills, especially in young children.

In the past several years, the use of technology in education has grown tremendously, in terms of online learning platforms, student-teacher communication, peer communication, note-taking, and digital assignment submission, and much more. Just in the past few years the use of technology for educational purposes has expanded rapidly, amplified especially by needs surrounding the Covid-19 outbreak and remote learning. The question is, what kind of impact is this fundamental change having on children and the “normal” development of social and communicative skills? Many research studies have been conducted to address this very topic.

It has long been held as a common and scientifically proven belief that face-to-face interactions form healthy social skills. Body language such as facial expressions, posture, eye contact, positioning, and tone of voice are all important aspects of verbal communication. They help to accurately convey the speaker’s intent as well as form deeper emotional connections between people. The problem with the immense increase in technological communication rather than face-to-face communication today is that, for the most part, it lacks most of these important cues. For example, text messages convey only the base layer of communication – words. Without the facial expression, tone, and inflection to accompany the message, the words are left entirely up to the receiver’s interpretation. This could lead to potentially tragic miscommunications between individuals that do not reflect the speaker’s true intent.

According to a 2010 study cited in an article on the website, “Junior Learning,” texting has become the primary form of communication for teens and pre-teens. Fast forward 12 years to today, where the age of children communicating via text messages and other online platforms is becoming younger and younger. It is no wonder that this is affecting children’s social development; during these crucial years where children learn how to interact with others and form meaningful relationships, they often lack opportunities to develop social skills. This is only exacerbated when, in the classroom, teachers utilize online platforms for communication between students or between teachers and students. For example, many online learning platforms utilize a “discussion post” function to replace in-class discussion. Rather than sharing meaningful conversation about a specific topic or presenting ideas to a class face-to-face, students now turn to typing their ideas into a class forum and “responding” to others via a post online. This almost destroys the ability to convey ideas accurately, deliberate on topics meaningfully, and receive instant feedback or opposing points of view, all important aspects of conversation.

Another issue regarding the increase in educational technology and social development is the impact of feelings of social disconnection on children and adolescents. In a classroom even 10 or 20 years ago, students were always interacting with each other, whether by working together in groups, playing games on the playground, eating and laughing together at lunch, riding the bus together, or just being around each other day-to-day. However, today, even though students are still physically sitting in the classroom and the lunchroom together, they are not as present as they once were. Groups share a google doc to work on their parts of a project separately, kids play games on iPads at recess, listen to music or scroll through social media on the bus, and are constantly distracted checking their various devices throughout the school day. This can produce feelings of loneliness and isolation for many students, as they are more focused on what’s on the screen rather than what is going on around them. According to “Qustodio,” studies show that teens who report the highest amount of screen time tend to have the highest rates of loneliness and depression. When children and teens are not as engaged with their peers around them, they are not forming as strong of friendships and relationships, which can lead to the development of other mental and emotional issues.

Not only does the increase in technological communication affect the forming of relationships and verbal communication, but it also has an impact on the development of other social skills, especially in small children. The less time spent interacting with others, the less toddlers and very young children learn about how to interact effectively with others. In particular, studies show that more screen time can lead to more disruptive behavior, such as bullying, bossiness, or impoliteness. This makes sense, as children who spend less time interacting with not only other children, but parents, teachers, and other figures of authority in their lives learn less about the proper ways to treat others. This can form bad social habits from a young age and just lead to more disruption and disorder in the classroom.

Verbal communication cues, relationships, and social skills are only a few social skills on which the stark rise in technology in education is having a negative impact. As the use of the internet and electronic devices continue to grow and develop in today’s society, we must be wary of the effects it can have on children’s development. In the educational setting in particular, teachers and schools must find ways to continue engaging their students in face-to-face conversations and connections, paying more attention to real-life than what’s behind the screen. Although the global pandemic has largely caused a shift to remote and online educational models, we must find a way to not make those impacts a “new normal;” it is more important now than ever to instill good communication and social skills in the next generation.

Sources:

The Impact of Technology on Social Skills – Junior Learning USA

How does technology affect children’s social development? | Qustodio

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It was 7:45 am on the first day of classes in college. I was already sweating from the 10 minute walk to the forum building through the 95 degree heat when I walked into forum 105 for the first time. I had a moment of panic when I took in the hundreds of other students bustling in the lecture hall and wondered, where the heck am I supposed to sit? I hastily chose an end seat in a row near the back next to a girl who looked friendly enough, and the chatter hushed as my chemistry professor began his welcome spiel.

My first college lecture ever flew by and I could already tell that I was going to love my professor. At the end of class, I turned to the girl next to me and asked her name, to which she replied Gabby. We chatted for a few minutes on our walk out of class and bonded over the fact that we were two of only a handful of freshmen in chem 112 during their first semester. We exchanged snapchats, as college students do these days, and parted our ways. The morning before the next class, Gabby messaged me on snapchat and asked if I wanted to sit together, so we found each other and sat together in lecture again. From that first day on, we sat next to each other almost every single class in chemistry, as well as walking back to our dorms together and signing up for a weekly workshop for chemistry together.

One time in the fall, two of my friends and I were planning on going downtown on a Friday night with my friend’s roommate and her friends. I walked into my friend’s room where we were going to meet up with her friends and who was standing there, but Gabby. I was incredulous! Once again, this just shows how small the world really is – the random girl I sat down next to in chemistry class on the first day and who I had become friends with was also good friends with my best friend’s roommate, who I just happened to be going out with that night! Anyways, we were both pleasantly surprised and had a good time getting to know each other better.

This semester, Gabby and I, once again, sit together in chemistry class, although it’s organic chemistry this time. Between Gabby and I we have pulled together a little group of mutual friends in that class who serve as a study group and support system for getting through the horrors of organic chemistry together. If I had not happened to sit next to Gabby on the very first day of college classes, I would probably not have the chem friend/study group that I have now, and, more importantly, I never would have known her!

I challenge you to sit next to someone new in one of your classes/lectures this upcoming week, and introduce yourself with a smile. Who knows, maybe a complete stranger will become your close friend!

In high school, I was very heavily involved in music – I played the violin in orchestra until 10th grade, I was in my high school’s concert choir and chamber choir, and I performed in three school musicals. I especially loved choir, and I desperately wanted to continue this passion in college. So, I took voice lessons over the summer and excitedly auditioned for the Penn State choirs during the first week of school. Alas, I made it into University Choir and Oriana Singers (the all-female choir), but chose to just join UChoir.

I was super excited to be joining a choir in college because I loved to sing, especially in harmony with others. However, I was a bit intimidated on the first day of rehearsal when I did not know a single person in the room. I met a couple of other girls in the soprano section but it was not until the second or third week that I met Ella. I remember in class one day, Dr. Nichols, the director, told us that he wanted choir to become a community for all of us, and he encouraged us to say hi to somebody we did not know on our way out of class. As we all filtered out of the Nittany Lion Inn that afternoon, a girl with long, dark curly hair held the door for me with a smile. I thanked her and said, “I’m Anna by the way,” to which she responded, “I’m Ella! Nice to meet you!” Our destinations were both in the same direction, so we decided to walk together.

After that, I walked home every Tuesday and Thursday with Ella. On Tuesdays we would catch each other up on the events of the past weekend, and on Thursdays we would talk about our weeks and everything else under the sun. What struck me the most about Ella was her natural and genuine kindness. No matter what kind of day or week she was having, she would always greet me with a huge smile. She listened intently, asked me about things in my life, and when talking about others, always seemed to see the best in everyone and assume the positive rather than the negative of every situation. She appreciated the little things, and would comment on how beautiful the weather was, or how much she loved a song we sang in rehearsal, or how much she appreciated Dr. Nichols’s kindness. One day she mentioned that she was going to a bible study after rehearsal and that she goes to a church downtown with a couple of her friends every Sunday. She invited me to go to church with them, and although I was a little unsure, as I hadn’t gone to church since I had been home in the summer with my family, I decided to go with her. I enjoyed it, though, and went back with her for the next couple of weeks, even bringing along one of my friends who now goes every week.

Unfortunately, Ella couldn’t fit University Choir into her schedule this semester, so I do not see her much anymore, but we still text to catch up every so often, and hopefully I will see her again soon. Ella is one of the kindest and most positive people I have ever met, and I am blessed to have a friend like her. Who knew that I would become so close to a random girl who held the door open for me one day in September? Saying hello to Ella had a great effect on my life, as her presence every Tuesday and Thursday always brightened my day, and I have met a few other great people through her. Simply introducing yourself to someone who shares a common activity with you can make a large community, like choir, another club, a class, etc. seem a lot smaller and not as intimidating.

It’s funny how small the world really is sometimes. I mean, Penn State seems so huge, with 40,000+ students, an enormous campus, dozens of places to get lost. However, I still manage to run into someone from my hometown almost every single day. And sometimes it seems like everybody I know is connected to everybody else. For example, I met a girl in chemistry class on the first day of school, and partway through the semester she told me that one of the guys in her friend group was from the same town as me and asked if I knew him, and it turns out that we were in a club together in high school! Or even weirder, during a conversation about weekend plans with a girl I became friends with from choir, I found out that she is good friends with my friend’s older brother and his friends, who I tailgated with for football games this fall! I don’t know if similar situations happen to any of you, but I just think it is so astonishing when, for a moment, my world seems so much smaller than I thought it was.

During probably my third or fourth week of classes in the fall, my freshman seminar teacher placed my classmates and I into study groups based on what we proclaimed our toughest class was. I said that mine was CHEM 112, and the only other student in the room who was taking CHEM 112 (because I’m a semester ahead in chemistry) was a boy named Noah. I had no idea who he was and had never talked to him before, but alas, we were thrown into a study group together and were expected to meet up outside of class for the assignment. So, I found Noah’s Penn State email address and emailed him about a time to meet up and settled on a Thursday afternoon in the hub. I remember searching the top floor of the hub that day and couldn’t find him anywhere, starting to panic because I had no idea what he even looked like!

I finally found him, and awkwardly said hello. We shared small talk at first but then we quickly realized that we had an uncanny amount in common. First of all, we are from the same town, but went to different high schools. Second of all, we found out that we shared not only our seminar class and our chem class, but also our nutrition class and statistics class together – I’m talking same section, same teacher, everything. We both like to ski, we have the same major, and we found out we were in two of the same clubs together! I was blown away at how much I shared in common with this total stranger and how serendipitous it was that we just happened to be thrown together by our teacher.

Since our first study group meeting, Noah and I have become very close friends. We have since sat next to each other in classes, walked to classes together, ate a few meals together after chem exams, attended club meetings and socials for our prehealth honors society, facetimed about homework problems, worked on finding research labs together, and everything in between! Let’s just say without Noah I would not be doing as well in organic chemistry right now. Wow, as I am typing this blog post, Noah just texted me in all caps about a bio homework problem (because, yes, we have three classes together again this semester). Anyways, I never would have guessed that first day in seminar class that this random boy would become such a big part of my every day. Who knows how the absence of that little interaction would have altered my life – would we have crossed paths anyways in one of our other classes or clubs, or would we have remained strangers? I guess I will never know.

Hello everyone, and welcome to my new passion blog, called “Saying Hello to Strangers”! Each week I will write about one person I have met during my time at Penn State thus far and the impact that they have had on my life. Going to college can feel like starting over, often with a fear of the unknown and concerns about making friends and deciding exactly who you want to be. But the truth is that we are all facing this uncertainty together, and this truth paradoxically brings us closer and can help us to make friends out of strangers.

I would like to begin at the beginning. The day after I moved into college, I was running late to meet up with my SHOtime Orientation Group because I did not know how to find them on this huge campus. I eventually found my group just in time to walk to the forum for our first presentation. The only person I recognized was Kelsey, but only because I had been in a snapchat group chat with her and many other Schreyer kids over the summer. So, naturally, I said hi to her and introduced myself. We stood there awkwardly for a moment not quite sure what to say to each other – what are you supposed to say to someone you “met” on the internet but have never actually talked to in person?

Anyways, we sat next to each other in the presentation and then began to get to know each other through different activities as the day went on. Throughout the SHOtime program, I formed a little group within my group consisting of Kelsey, a boy named Luke, and a girl named Laura, and the four of us did everything together. However, Kelsey and I were still sort of acquaintances after knowing each other for only two days. The night after orientation was over, however, I decided to be bold and I texted Kelsey to ask if she wanted to hang out with my roommate and I. She said yes and that she was going to bring a few people with her. A little bit nervously, my roommate and I met up outside with a boy she knows from her hometown and Kelsey, her roommate, and four other people who were total strangers to me. We all walked downtown to check out the scene, as freshmen do on their first Friday night, and then ultimately ended up back in my dorm room (again, as freshmen do). I wasn’t so sure about how I felt about this group of people at first. However, after the initial awkwardness smoothed out, we had a fun time chatting and listening to music together.

Today, Kelsey is one of my closest friends, and that odd group of strangers who hung out in my dorm room the first weekend make up most of my core friend group. We share meals together, study together, hang out on the weekends and go to football games together, and give each other support and advice all the time. I never would have thought that one little interaction with a girl I met on social media would have such an impact on my life. If I hadn’t been placed in the same SHOtime group as Kelsey and had never introduced myself to her, who knows how different my life and the strong friendships I have formed would be today. I often think about how crazy it is that one minuscule moment can have a ripple effect on so much of your life, affecting things you aren’t even aware of. That’s why I decided to write this passion blog; I would like to share with you all how something as simple as saying hello to a stranger can change you forever. I hope you enjoy it!