I grew up just down the street from Roger Williams University. My elementary school took us on field trips to the wet lab here. My middle and high school band concerts were in the field house. My high school graduation was in the field house. I grew up with RWU just a few minutes down the road. As a freshman, I've gotten a lot of questions about why I chose to pay for room and board when I live so close, and I'd like to answer them here.

First and foremost, it was not to get away from my family. I love my parents, and I love my three sisters. I talk to them every day, and I see them every weekend when I go home and go to my off-campus job. Though it is nice to not have to fight for the bathroom with my sisters anymore, that wasn't my main reason for choosing to live here. I miss waking up and hearing my sisters in the living room or my dogs barking at the leaves falling from trees. So no, to clear up any and all misconceptions, I was not running away from home when I chose to live on campus.

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Living on campus has given me access to hundreds of events and meetings I might not have participated in if I was commuting from home. When I'm debating if I want to go to a dance team performance or a visiting professor's talk, I don't have to weigh in traffic and parking spots and whether or not I even feel like driving. I can just walk down the stairs and walk to the event. As someone who dislikes unnecessary driving and effort, this really helps make it easier for me to be an active RWU student on campus.

Living on campus has helped me make friends. I go to classes, and I come back to my room to the same people every day. I can go out in my common room and hang out with whoever's playing video games, doing homework, or join a card game. We live together, and we've been forced to get to know each other. I've met people with whom I might never have interacted if I had lived at home. I would have been going to class and going straight home. I would never have met my roommate Cass, or my suitemates Abby, Sam, Issy, Gabbie, Jenn, Kate, Kenzi and Alison. I wouldn't have met my honorary suitemates (you know those people, the ones who basically live in your suite even if they don't) Sam, Abby, Jason, Thomas, Madison, and John. I would have a completely different set of friends, and likely a much smaller set. I'm self-aware enough to know that had I not been forced to interact with these people by way of living together, I might not have taken the initiative and forged these friendships.

Living on campus has taught me to be more independent and let me learn how to rely on myself. It's given me a chance to figure out how to do adult things like setting a laundry schedule, keeping my room organized without someone prompting me, waking myself up for classes, doing my own dishes, contacting professors and advocating for myself. It's taught me how to use public transport and get myself where I need to go. I'm taking the necessary baby steps that will help me become a fully functioning adult.

I love living on campus. I love having a space to call my own (even if I do share it with my roommate). I love being independent and I love being close enough to home that I can still see everyone whenever I want. I love the friends I've made on campus and the events I've been a part of and I wouln't give up this experience for anything.