Everyone experiences hardships in their transition from high school to college

Alumni Matthew Voss and Celeste Grinnell, both of whom are in college want to help ease that transition.

“The biggest change for me was the change of culture and being so far away from my family,” Grinnell said.

Grinnell is going to be a sophomore at BYU- Hawaii.

The culture of each and every college is unique and different. To try to stay in contact with your family, Grinnell recommends using FaceTime.

People need to study in college as well as remain in contact with people you know.

“I recommend actually studying in high school because it will pay off,” Grinnell said.

Studying is a good tool to help reinforce learning.

“I touched up on things before tests and [quickly] reviewed some flash cards but I never actually sat down and studied,” Grinnell said.

For many seniors, the daily routine they follow will need to change.

“Well, my mom does not wake me up for school anymore. She does not make me breakfast or pack my lunch. She also does not make me dinner, so the whole eating thing changed a lot,” Grinnell said.

For a many high schoolers, this change means having to set their own alarm, wake ourselves up and finding themselves food. It is also important to network and connect with different people, according to alumnus Matthew Voss.

“Connect with different people that think similarly to you and differently. It is important to have friends to support you but it is also important to take advantage of the diversity in college and learn from it,” Voss said.

Voss is going to be a junior at George Mason University in Virginia.

Networking may be important because it is impossible to know who will pop up later in life that from earlier in life.

Not every choice is the best choice that could have been made. College is a new start, a clean slate if you will. Just try to make the most of it.

“College is a new start… Make the most of your college life, making good decisions; you are paying lots of money for the next few years of your life, so do not mess it up,” Grinnell said.

Organizing time and making to do lists is an important activity. It keeps everything chronologically ordered, so the due dates are in order.

“Making to do lists and chunking time off to do homework is probably the only reason I am still alive and doing well in college,” Grinnell said.

Some people are having trouble deciding between colleges. Voss has a thing to say about that.

“It is important to listen to your heart [when choosing the right college], however, most colleges have clubs and people that you would enjoy being around. So it would not be the end of the world if you did not choose the right school,” Voss said.