Towering Traditions and Exciting Transitions
Hello there! My name is Alex and I’m a freshman at Belmont this year! I am from Kansas City so it was a long drive to Nashville, but I’m very excited to be here!! My major is currently Undecided but I’m leaning toward Elementary Education. I absolutely love working with kids and Belmont’s 4 + 1 Masters Degree program for education majors would be a great opportunity to take advantage of.
Let me preface this entry by saying that these past three weeks at Belmont have been absolutely life-changing for me. There is no way I could possibly express how welcomed I have felt since my first day here or how much I love everything about this place. One consistent characteristic of Belmont, and perhaps what I love most about it, is the genuine hospitality of everyone here. People make eye contact with each other. Strangers greet each other with a “Hey! How are you?” There is just such a sense of community and optimism here and I love being a part of it.
This hospitality was especially helpful on move-in day. When I arrived on campus I was greeted by volunteers (students, faculty members, local church members, etc.) who eagerly carried my boxes up to my 4th floor room. All I had to do was unpack! One volunteer, upon entering my room, noticed my dad's Royals baseball cap and said, "Uh oh...it looks like we've got trouble in here!" The man explained that he is a Cardinals fan and joked with my dad for a few minutes before leaving to help others move in. I'm sure you can imagine how shocked my family and I were when this man was later introduced as Dr. Robert Fisher, PRESIDENT of Belmont University! We were all very impressed that even the president was willing to volunteer his time and energy in order to make each new student's transition as smooth as possible.
Personally, I always thought that making the transition from high school to college would be difficult for me because I am extremely close to my family. When I decided to come to Belmont I wasn’t sure how I would adjust to being nine hours away from home, but I knew that I could do it. My biggest concerns were making new friends and being homesick. Towering Traditions took care of both of these issues. My first few days on campus were filled with a variety of fun, interesting and unique activities ranging from community service to concerts to crazy get-to-know-you games to entertaining seminars. Although these activities weren’t mandatory, I am so glad I went to them because I was able to meet new people and keep myself busy. The best part of TT (Towering Traditions) was getting to know the people in my small group. I made instant new friends and looked forward to spending time with them each day. We were placed in groups according to our freshman seminar class so it was also fun to walk into that class on the first day and already know my classmates’ names! If it weren’t for Towering Traditions I don’t think my first week would have been nearly as smooth and enjoyable as it was.
I could write endlessly about the experiences that I have had, the friends that I’ve made and all that I have learned within these past few weeks at Belmont. I am so happy to finally be here and I can’t tell you how great it feels to know that I made the right—no, the perfect—decision in coming to Belmont University.
