Student story: Overcoming anxiety around not fitting in as an obstacle to college
About this video
A student from a majority-black community with a strong sense of belonging worried about fitting in at Brown. He found a strong black community and transition programmes there, and tells the story of meeting his best friend, Jamelle, on his first days at a pre-orientation programme called Catalyst.
You'll be able to
- explain why the student was worried about fitting in at Brown.
- describe what helped him with the transition to college.
- explain how pre-orientation programmes and friendly peers help new students.
Key words
- Community
- A group of people who share something and feel connected.
- Transition
- The change from one situation to another, like from high school to college.
- Pre-orientation program
- A programme that brings some new students to campus early to help them settle in.
- Underrepresented minority students
- Students from groups that are fewer in number at a college than in the wider population.
Transcript
- Where I come from, I come from a majority black community, about 70% of my county is black, and my school was 90% black. And because there was this shared experience, there was a strong sense of community between all of us. And all the schools that I was looking at, I was looking at schools like Brown.
And I knew that (laughs) the schools weren't gonna be like where I was comin' from. And so I was very concerned about fitting in, and about finding people who would know where I was coming from, and my experience. And I definitely found that here. I fit in, I made so many friends.
The black community is very strong, and there were a lot of programs to help me with that transition, and that was really helpful. (laughs) I have a really funny story. So I came to school, I came to Brown in July as part of a pre-orientation program called Catalyst.
And it was for disadvantaged students, or underrepresented minority students, who were interested in studying science at Brown. And so I came on campus and barely, no one was there, because it was July. And when I went to the bookstore, I met the very first student at Brown I will ever meet, and her name's Jamelle, and she's my best friend now.
And I remember her whole family was there. And I was just walking and being shy. She comes up to me and goes, "Are you a freshman at Brown? "I'm a freshman at Brown. Where are you coming from? "This is my family." Talking to me like we'd known each other for years.
I was like, that's what I'm gonna be expecting, comin' to this school. And yeah, as I said before, we spend every Thanksgiving together now. And I was just so excited that day. And that's just how Brown has been for me.
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