Student Spotlight - Scott Turk

Scott discussed the change in communication with his parents from first year to second year. It is his own opinion of his relationship with his parents and is not necessarily the typical representation of our student population. It is through this Spotlight that we aim to shed light on the differences that many of our students have in family contact.

The first semester at college was definitely a trial by error experience when it came to my parents. It was extremely difficult for them to let go and not have full reign over all of the decisions that I was making. They realized that communication had to be much different, as they were not able to see me every day. As I went through the year, it was difficult because even though I was from Springfield, I became very involved and busy with school and saw them about as much as my peers that lived out of town. The relationship was tense at times, as they did not understand that this new experience with me did not give me a lot of privacy to be able to talk or call, and with things constantly going on, there was little time to even visit in person.

Being a sophomore has proved to be much different. I believe that my parents became much more accepting of the fact that I was going to need to be a lot more independent and learn from my own mistakes. It was hard for them to not have a direct impact on every decision that they made, but through the decisions that I did make the previous year, they had much more trust in me. They saw what I was able to accomplish and respected the fact that I was trying to be successful. It meant a lot to me to have my parents be proud of my success and realize that it would not have been possible without them.