I love Hofstra. I’ve never been more positive of anything in my entire life that this is where I’m supposed to be and I honestly cannot picture myself going to school anywhere else. Since the first tour I attended my junior year of high school, I knew this was where I wanted to go to college.
Since I started here last fall, I’ve met my best friends and found people that I consider my family — I’ve even joined clubs that I didn’t even know existed coming into college that have defined my college experience so far. Finding my home away from home here didn’t come immediately, but I’m so happy I’m doing what I love with people I love in a place as amazing as Hofstra.
Her Campus was actually the first club that I joined on campus and I am so glad that I did. It was amazing to find a group of girls that love writing as much as I do. I really think that the best way to find the people that belong in your life is to go out alonee and do what you love, and then you’ll find others that enjoy your passions as much as you.
Putting myself out there wasn’t easy. I came to Hofstra fully knowing that no one from my hometown went here and I wouldn’t know anybody once I actually got here. I loved that idea, though, and going through that really helped me find myself and find peace in who I wanted to be and who I was becoming. Hofstra became my home away from home, and it’s all because I came here and was determined to find the people that deserved to be in my life.
If you want to find your home away from home, you need to figure out what you can bring to your campus. Whether that’s through Greek Life, professional organizations, productions or clubs within your major, you have something within yourself that didn’t exist on this campus before. If you have the courage to share that, you’ll be able to find your home here.
I asked some of the members of Her Campus Hofstra what made Hofstra their home away from home and I was honestly surprised that most people had a pretty similar idea of how to find your home at Hofstra.
Everyone mentioned how the people at Hofstra made it easy to feel welcome on campus, and I couldn’t agree more. Everyone at Hofstra is different, but everyone just wants to feel like they belong, and everyone I’ve met respects that. Just within my major alone, I’ve met so many people with so many different interests that I know that whatever I bring to the table is valid.
I also asked everyone if they had any tips on how to find your home and pretty much everyone mentioned that joining clubs and trying to make your circle as wide as possible is a really great way to make a home for yourself on campus.
While Hofstra doesn’t have the largest campus, there are about 10,000 students on campus at any given time. It can get scary when you’re walking around and you feel like you don’t know anybody. I remember when I got here for welcome week on the first days of freshman year and my roommates and I all clung to each other constantly because none of us really knew anybody. It turned out for the best because I ended up living with my best friends, but it was still a little uneasy to know that if I wanted to feel like I was known I had to drive five hours back to Pennsylvania.
I genuinely can’t go anywhere on campus and not see somebody that I know whether it’s from my clubs and organizations or from class, and it’s only my third semester. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like by the time I’m a senior.
The overarching theme here is to really just do what you love in college. I promise, there is a club or organization that wants you to join. I didn’t join much my first semester — Her Campus was pretty much the only thing I did my freshman year. But, it still gave me a place. I knew that every other Wednesday, I would be walking into a room full of women that wanted to support me and help me in my journey. Now, I’m involved so much more on campus and it’s the best feeling knowing that I have little families that I can go to for anything I need.
There is a home for you on your campus, and it’s waiting for you to find it.