As summer starts to wind down, hundreds of residents are about to embark on an exciting, and somewhat scary journey: starting college. It’s a momentous step, but our young residents are well prepared to begin secondary education, and to succeed, thanks in no small part to their upbringing in this town and its stellar school and support systems.Some of our college students will stay close to home, while others will travel across the country to pursue their secondary education. Just 20 years ago, that might have made one feel as if they were left out on an island, with the only tethers to family and friends back home being a shared dorm room phone line and handwritten letters. But communication has improved exponentially from even just a decade ago, when text messaging and the advent of Facebook were viewed as major game-changers. Now, it seems like you can take your friends and family to school right along with you. Through various smartphone messaging and video tools, apps, and social media (and, yes, even still the occasional phone call) nobody is more than a screen tap away from their loved ones.And yet, incoming college students will still have more independence in their lives than ever before. It will be up to them to decide whether they want to have an apple for breakfast or three bowls of cereal. Heck, they can have cold pizza in the morning if they want to, and there won’t be a soul to stop them. It’s a gift and a curse; one of many simple learning opportunities for which each one of them will have to set their own personal rules.Our new college students will have fun – and undoubtedly, they will also be stressed. They will be overwhelmingly busy and yet somehow have a ton of downtime. They will make new best friends, and then a few weeks later, meet new new best friends. It’s a lot for anyone to process, let alone teenagers experiencing a massive lifestyle change.But it will all turn out okay, as their parents, older siblings, and other loved ones will attest. It may not always feel like it to the students (and parents!) who are dealing with a whole lot of “newness” at once, but these young adults are ready to take this step.Parents of new college freshmen, remember that you, too, will survive this massive change in your life.
