Hollister
– More than 150 students who graduated from San Benito High
School in June are packing their bags, saying goodbye to friends
and preparing for their freshman year of college.
Hollister – More than 150 students who graduated from San Benito High School in June are packing their bags, saying goodbye to friends and preparing for their freshman year of college.
“I’m glad to leave,” said Wes Nelson, who will be attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo this fall. “I’ll miss home, but I’ll be coming back enough because it’s not so far away. It will just be different.”
The last few weeks before leaving for college life can be tumultuous for both students and their families. Signing up – and paying – for classes, working out living situations and last-minute shopping trips and financial details on top of the normal emotional stresses of such a big change can all add up to be a tad overwhelming.
“Right now we’re just trying to deal with all the logistics,” said Robin Brown, a SBHS guidance counselor whose daughter Bailey will also be attending Cal Poly this year. “But if you talk to me the day before she leaves I know I’ll be a basket case.”
Bailey said it was particularly important for her to spend time with her two sisters before heading out this fall.
“We’ve been hanging out a lot,” she said. “It’s actually been pretty fun.”
The Browns even took Bailey’s youngest sister to the house where she’ll be staying for the school year with Wes. The two became close friends through SBHS’ Future Farmers of America program, and decided to be roommates when the two were both admitted to ag programs at Cal Poly.
“Bailey’s youngest sister is just 9, and we wanted her to see where her sister would be staying and that she was safe,” said Brown. “That can be a big adjustment for a little kid, when your sister stops coming home at night.”
Brown attended Cal Poly SLO herself, making Bailey’s decision to attend extra special.
“We’ve gone and visited a lot, but the town has changed so much my mom doesn’t even recognize most of it,” Bailey said.
Since most universities don’t start the year until later in the fall, parents said that it was hard to process the fact that their children would soon be moving out.
“We’re tremendously proud of him, of course, because Cal Poly is a really hard school to get into, but it doesn’t seem like anything’s changed yet,” said Wes’ father Brad Nelson.
But even for Brown, who helps dozens of SBHS seniors get into college every year, it will be a tough transition.
“Graduation didn’t even faze me, because I knew my daughter would still be coming home at the end of the day,” she said. “But now she’s leaving and I know a lot of her friends from this graduating class, so it’s different. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and I’m experiencing things I never have before.”
But ultimately, local students and their parents say the prospects of college life are more exciting than scary.
“I know it will be a good experience,” Bailey said. “And Hollister will always be here.”
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected].
