Waukegan collegians share real-world advice with students
BY DAN MORAN dmoran@stmedianetwork.com January 17, 2012 8:32PM
Alejandra Alcala (left), 18, of Waukegan talks about attending St. Mary's University as she takes part in the Waukegan High School Alumni College Student Panel. | Thomas Delany Jr~ Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 18, 2012 1:47AM
WAUKEGAN — Buy cheaper books online. Apply for as many scholarships as you can. Put your name on any food you don’t want your roommates to eat.
These and other real-world chunks of advice were dispensed during the third annual College Student Panel at Waukegan High School, with recent graduates spending the tail end of their winter breaks letting current students know what campus life is really like.
“Well, the biggest difference I feel is just the workload,” said University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign freshman Jonathan Binkley to a group of about 30 students in the first of three sessions last week at the Washington Campus.
“Coming from Waukegan,” Binkley added, “you always thought you took the hardest classes, (but) everything got a lot harder. You have a lot to study outside of class. Yeah, you guys got it easy right now.”
Columbia College freshman Diana Nordling said the biggest change she’s seen in herself is “you’re more mature. You have to do things on your own more. Like, you don’t have your mom to wake you up anymore, and you don’t have your parents pushing you to do your homework.”
For Illinois State University freshman Mark Gaines, one challenge was not getting lost in the shuffle of auditorium-classroom settings.
“(Instructors) usually don’t take the effort to know your name,” he said, “so I have to go up to them and say, ‘My name’s Mark.’ The next day, ‘My name’s Mark — remember me?’”
That was the kind of input college counselor Charles Gutman was looking for from what he called “some of our star alumni.” A total of eight sessions were held at both the Washington and Brookside campuses, with Gutman telling current students that the goal is “to contribute to your education and let you know all about the process that they’re involved in right now.”
Along with such logistical questions as how to choose a major and manage your time, there were practical discussions on how to establish a social life and deal with roommates.
“That’s the biggest thing — communication. If you don’t say anything, they’ll eat your food,” said Columbia College freshman Quincy Jones. “You say, ‘My food, my bacon. Don’t eat my bacon, eat your bacon.’”
Dulce Delgado, a freshman at Tufts University near Boston, contributed to a spirited discussion about the high cost of new books by saying “write this down — gettextbooks.com. ... It saved me hundreds of dollars, literally.”
Also on the subject of surviving the starving college-student years, Northern Illinois University freshman Katie Castillo was among those pointing out the free-food opportunities that can be found on campus during promotional events.
“There’s free food everywhere, you just have to find it,” she said. “My first two weeks on campus, I never had to use my meal plan.”
Another common thread was the adjustment of going from a diverse community like Waukegan to a completely different campus. Suggestions included joining cultural clubs, going to campus parties and leaving your dorm-room door open to your new surroundings.
“You’ll find somebody just like you, and somebody totally different from you,” said Jones, “and you’ll just click.”
Gutman said plans are also in place to have college graduates and former students who are now in the working world share the fruits of their knowledge with students later this year.
“We’re going to bring in people who are professionals who have decided to stay in Waukegan,” Gutman said. “With both of these (events), we want to share the tremendous value we have in the community.”
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