As getting accepted into colleges, seniors wanted to ask teachers their personal experiences.in order to know what to expect.

Ms. Wakita, 12th grade English Teacher at Animo Pat Brown Charter High School, said she went to “Cal poly slo, I really liked it. I got involved in a lot of clubs and really liked my major and the people there” said Ms. Wakita.

LoveJoy’s basketball coach went to Portland State University. He went for four months and rated the experience 5/5 and believed it’s something everyone should do, because the experience will stick with them for life.

Mr. Cieply says “I attended University of Nevada, Las Vegas I liked living on campus and living in the dooms and being social also liked living in vegas after I turned 21.”

Mr. Rodriguez, long term guest teacher says “ I attended New York University. I most enjoyed the class time that I had, there were international students that shared their stories and getting to know everyone. Being able to walk out of class and seeing the big city, skyscrapers; just the overall Big Apple experience. Also, there was always something happening- so many random things going on at all times of day.”

Mr. Hinojosa attended UC Merced. He says “The good thing was meeting a lot of people from different places that had different career goals and that helped me have connections. The bad thing was being far from home and missing out on family stuff.”

When asked how it was to share the room with a roommate. Mr. Hinojosa said, “Sharing the restroom and dorm was annoying when I lived with people I didn’t know. I Lived on campus for two years. The rent was cheaper out campus than the dorms. However I didn’t have a roommate outside campus. I had my own room and my own space.”

Ms. Wakita said, “I lived on campus the first two years. I got lucky because I knew my roommate and sharing the bathroom was tough because there were fourty girls sharing one restroom with only five stalls. Then I decided to move off campus for the last two years. The rent was over a thousand dollars for a month.”

Another question asked is if they worked throughout college and if it was difficult. Ms. Wakita answered “Yes, I worked as a waiter at a cafe called Urban Pantry. Sometimes it was hard to maintain a job and school but the boss was very understanding”.

Mr. Rodriguez on the other hand responded “No, I wasn’t able to work because as an athlete, I signed a contract with the NCAA and NYU where I wasn’t allowed to have an income.”

Overall, we wanted to know how they would rate the college and their experiences. Mr. Rodriguez said, “9/10 because in those 4 years I became more independent and discovered myself and my interests. I got the chance to create lots of memories, have fun and meet interesting people from around the world. Not quite a 10/10 because as I said, NYU has no traditional campus. It’s just randomly owned buildings throughout the island of Manhattan.”

Another question was what advice would they give the future freshmen attending this college. LoveJoy’s advice was “If you’re gonna go to Portland, be ready for the weather and know it’s small. Make sure you have a good reason to go there and research before going. Lastly, join a club you’re interested in.”

Mr. Cieply’s advice was “don’t take classes on friday and also find a balance between school and social life and it’s okay to have fun but make sure you do your things first”.

Mr. Rodriguez advised “Be prepared to really grow and become independent- to learn how to socialize and communicate with many different personalities and to not be so closed off. Be comfortable with being uncomfortable, but never forget to enjoy it. It goes by fast. Enjoy the hard times as much as you enjoy the good times”

Mr. Hinojosa advised “Don’t be afraid to meet new people and not to be afraid to do things you’ve never done before.”

Based on our teachers’ experiences, we were able to gather a variety of different feelings, emotions and opinions towards different schools. This information will be different for everyone: meaning, different opinions will come about after reading this article. After interviewing and getting to know the teachers’ experiences in college, we now know a little on what to expect in college: the struggles, studying, dedication, and when to have fun. Our teachers’ experience insight can help us in the future