With the start of a new semester at Howard University, come many new students. Being a new student during the spring semester is completely different from fall semester, where everyone is looking forward to the big traditional events. During spring there are no rival football games, Football Classic or famous Homecoming and despite the lack of big activities, transfer student Kierra Tobier, says that she will be looking forward to meeting new people, getting an HBCU experience and simply starting fresh.
Kierra Tobier was born in Gelienkirchen, Germany and has lived all over the world. She is a transfer student from College of Charleston is South Carolina. The College of Charleston and Howard University are almost opposites. College of Charleston is a predominately white institution with a much smaller campus than the Historical Black University, Howard University. In terms of class size, she said that the class sizes are much larger at Howard University and it makes it harder to meet new people, because either people just simply do not pay attention, or they don’t even know that she’s new since the campus is so big.
As a Public Relations major, she mentioned that she planned to get heavily involved on campus, but she is waiting to get used to a new school, city and overall environment. Kierra stays with her mom off-campus; however, she does feel that if she were on-campus, it would be easier to make new friends. When asked whether she liked Howard University thus far, she responded, “I don’t dislike it, but I guess it’s because I don’t know anybody. I haven’t done anything to dislike it, so I guess it’s straight.” Kierra Tobier is one of the many students who have not yet fully adapted during the first few weeks, but she is looking forward to a new experience.