Hi my name is Rosemary Tovar, but most people call me Rose or Rosee! I’m from Houston, TX and I go to a small liberal arts college called Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pennsylvania… yes that is quite a distance away from home.
I heard about Lycoming College because my high school had a scholarship program with many colleges and universities, including mine. It was a semi-hard decision to come here….actually I was quite terrified to come here because I was so far away from home and I didn’t think financially I could make it. But fortunately, I was able to get good financial aid from my college, and that was primarily what made my decision easy.
Originally, I had no intention of coming to this school but they had provided me with a fly-in program to come visit the campus and stay overnight, so I said “Heck yeah, Let’s go! Free trip.” Actually me and my friend ended up going to the fly-in together and we had met students from other Houston and nationwide high schools, crazy enough we didn’t know that those students were going to end up coming to the same college and become our friends in our freshmen year (we were just random high school students that didn’t know anything about each other, and now we are really close). After arriving to campus I stayed with students that hosted me that night which were also students with my intended major, so it really helped a lot to see their experience and what they do. At first glance at the school and the small town, I wasn’t too sure if I wanted to spend 4 years here, but the more time I spent here and got to know the people and the school more I started to love it. The students, staff, professors were all so welcoming and overall fun, it felt like a united community, and by the end of the trip I felt like I knew a lot of people and had built relationships with them – despite it being only 2 days. By the end of the trip, we were surrounded by all the high school seniors that joined my friend and I in the fly-in program, and we looked at each other and said, “I think this is where I want to come” along with many of the other students.
When it came to make the decision on which college I would attend in the Fall of 2019, my counselors helped with making that decision. I had told my counselors that I was afraid to tell my parents that I was committing to a school far away from home, which made me contemplate my college decision in sake to satisfy what my parents wanted me to do. We had a meeting and my counselors helped and guided me to talk to my parents about why I chose to come to this school. I think the hard part for parents is to see their child grow up and leave miles away to school because they are not used to that, but it’s always great to let them know what you want and what outcomes could come from it in the future. It was a tearful afternoon, but in the end they supported my decision.
I am a first generation student, which means my parents didn’t go to college. I have 2 older siblings that graduated from college, which their success and paths helped guide me, but after that the things I do now are my own decisions and experiences and I am learning along the way as well. My parents didn’t get the experiences I have now, therefore I believe their support reflects on that because they want me to have the best education and experience as possible.
If you are a high school senior, that are in the process of applying to college and making the commitment. My best advice is to visit college campuses to get the experience and get to know the community well. Talking to your college counselors for some guidance or advice is always keys and a must. And also make sure to not exclude your parents from the conversation, and talk too them about what you want… but also listen to their suggestions. Soon before you know it, you’re a freshman in college or in my case a JUNIOR in college!