Wake Forest Magazine June 2003 - Past Issues - Wake Forest ...

As their freshman year came to an end last month, the eight
students being followed on their college journey were
enthusiastically making plans for next year, but they were also
worrying about fitting everything into their schedules. Four
years of college, they were finding out, isn’t really that long
when there’s so much they want to do.
“It’s scary to think that I’m three-fourths of the way finished,”
said Lindsay Wilber, the former AmeriCorps volunteer
from Yarmouth, Maine.
Freshman year is, of course, a transition year from family and
long-time friends and the comforting routine of high school to
the freedom and choices of college. Over the last five years, an
average of 6 percent of Wake Forest’s freshmen didn’t return for
their sophomore year; a small percentage are academically ineligible,
but others drop out or transfer because of financial problems,
dissatisfaction with campus life, or to be closer to home.
For Wilber and the seven other students, most felt, if not at
home, then at least comfortable at Wake Forest by the end of
the fall semester.
“Around fall break (mid-October) is when I really started to
feel comfortable; before then I wanted to feel comfortable, but
I didn’t have a solid group of friends,” Wilber recalled. “You
want to have an instantaneous bond with people, but you can’t
just make it happen. I knew I had to give it time and it would
work out, and it definitely did. Now I feel really at home.
I’ve got a great group of friends. All my professors have been
awesome, and I’m looking forward to all the opportunities
I’ll have next year. I’m excited about being here.”
Tyler Barefoot worried last fall about being away from his
family in Dunn, North Carolina. But he went home only for
Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Break. “I’ve adjusted
well,” he said. “I’ve made such good friends—I know they’ll
be some of the best friends of my life—that I didn’t want to
go home that often.”
Sasha Suzuki, who turned down scholarship offers from
several schools to walk-on to the golf team, didn’t make the
team for any tournaments, but her teammates provided support
and friendship. “Living away from home for two years really
helped me adjust,” said Suzuki, who attended a private boarding
school an hour away from her home in Fort Lee, New Jersey,
before coming to Wake Forest. “Over Christmas break, I started
missing being here. I started missing the girls on the team. It
was reassuring to see people you know when you got back. I felt
like I was home when I was walking around and seeing so many
faces I recognized now.”
Will Brown, perhaps the only freshman to spend his high
school years living on a boat, was anxious about returning to
a traditional classroom setting. “I didn’t really know what to
expect with the classes and workload,” said Brown, whose
“land” base is now Albuquerque, New Mexico. “The greatest
challenge has been time management—balancing classes and
fun and sleep–and learning how to adjust to different situations.
But I can’t imagine a better atmosphere. I’m having a
great time while being constantly challenged to do more and to
do better than I previously would have thought possible.”
For Reggie Mathis, one of a record number of minorities—
14 percent—in the Class of 2006, race wasn’t an issue during
the year as much as finding ways to express his strong Christian
faith. “I’ve adapted the three Ps—patience, persistence, and
perseverance–to guide my everyday life,” he said. “It has been
a growing period of immense proportions. You face so many
different decisions, but I’ve learned to be patient and hear
God before making any decisions.”
“Around fall break (mid-October)
is when I really started to feel
comfortable; before then I wanted
to feel comfortable, but I did not
have a solid group of friends.”
—Lindsay Wilber (’06)
Andy Lobashevsky of Birmingham, Alabama, one of seven
Reynolds Scholars in the freshman class, doesn’t want to be
stereotyped with a big “R” on his chest. He tried a little of
everything during the year: rushing a fraternity, working for
the student radio station, and volunteering at the hospital.
“I’m becoming more and more certain that this is the right
place for me,” he said. “There’s been an air of mystery and
intrigue about the year—this is what the next four years will
be about; these are the people I’ll be with for the next four
years. It’s a crucial moment in life. I can see myself growing
and maturing and progressing to another level.”
Lobashevsky and Melissa Malkush, a Presidential Scholar in
photography from Shoreham, New York, were among about
240 freshmen, or 25 percent of their class, who came into
Wake Forest interested in a “pre med” course of study.
Typically, only about a third of those stay on that track, but
Lobashevsky and Malkush said freshman year had solidified
their plans.
“I’ve spent more time thinking about what I want out of
my education,” said Malkush, “and how to combine photography,
medicine, and travel; how I can take photographs to represent
people; how I can relate to other people, which is why I
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