Marilyn Stewart - Struggles Faced
From Natalia Fernandez
Well, I was a commuter because I went to school like I said at the local college and it was for town people; it was just assumed that you would commute, that you'd live at home and that you'd commute in. There were dormitories there, but they were mainly for people from outside of the area that attended school. And usually it would be a far distance, maybe another state, even another country, that sort of thing. We had sports teams as well so we had athletic dorms, that sort of thing. So, I was familiar with on-campus living but I was a commuter. Student: Okay. Did you feel that because you commuted that possibly like affected, you know, your ability to socialize or like get like, be able to utilize the student resources or anything like that? Did you feel like that your commuting affected that at all? Marilyn: Well, first, I'll really start out with that I wasn't aware of the resources for students. That was the first part, but being a commuter, along with many others who also commuted, it was just expected that we had other responsibilities. No, I wasn't aware really of the different resources that would be available to a first gen student or a freshman student, a first time student, you just --- my assumption was you start school and you just continue with however you did it high school. And so outside responsibilities, whether it was jobs, or kids, or other family obligations, then most of the commuters that I knew had those outside responsibilities. Well they didn't disapprove, but the thought was I would graduate high school, and get a job and contribute to the family. So it wasn't that it couldn't be done, it was just that so far, it hadn't been done. And so, it wasn't until I was actually admitted and going and seemingly doing well that then my family was very happy and proud that I was in college. I'm going to start with, from an academic standpoint. I would say something that was difficult and that I had to adapt to was the study time. The difference between high school and college, time wise, and just learning to balance that time --- again, having outside responsibilities and thinking that I still could do my outside of college responsibilities and uphold the amount of time needed to not just go to school, go to class, do work in class, but the outside of class time, I was not prepared for what I needed to do, because I didn't know that I was going to need to do that as a first gen. And then I was kind of learning it “on the job training way” you know it was like, “Oh yes, I should have written that five page paper you know after the first class and not two days later, when it is actually due.” Student: Yeah, oh yeah definitely, just trying to figure out how to, balance all that and everything it's yeah it's pretty--- Marilyn: You mean I don't have time? And the other thing is when I look at my experience, which was years ago versus what we are doing now in college, which is every professor is now supposed to have a syllabus. That wasn't always the case in those days, this is something that has come out of, I'm going to assume trial and error, but in those days all professors did not have to have a syllabus, and so a lot of assumption, assuming went on. Student: Yeah, oh yeah. I bet that caused a lot of confusion about--- Marilyn: Oh my goodness. Student: …what was you know going into class not knowing what you were going to be doing, ugh, or what's due? and they're just like, “Alright get out your research paper” and you're like, “What!?” Marilyn: Mhmm. Student: Yeah. Marilyn: Mhmm.
- Tags
-