This I Believe

Being the youngest of five growing up I watched my four older siblings leave home and go to college. I always wondered why my siblings would call home when they wanted so much to get away from home. Now I understand why they would constantly be calling home. I call home just as my siblings always did to gain moral support and guidance from my parents. I believe the average college student needs moral support from a family to be happy. I believe that a college student who lives away from home can also have a family through meeting new friends, and joining many groups. I am currently a student at Brigham Young University- Idaho. My immediate family lives in Louisiana. Since I am so far away from home I have had to learn how to love others, and gain another part to what I believe as my ultimate extended family. I also have cousins that go to this school, and having them around me has helped me gain an ultimate love and care for them. I have many cousins on my dad’s side that I have never met, but yet because they are family I have an instant love for them. This can also be the case fro meeting new friends that have similar beliefs and thoughts that I do. Groups that a student is in can help them to become part of a family. For example, I am in the universities marching band, and we do things and have fun with each other as if we are a family. Also, I believe that your roommates can become your family at college. I know that with my roommates we try to spend time together by having fun, eating dinner together, and watching movies together. These are all things I would do with my family back home in Louisiana. I believe that a student can also get moral support from his family back home by receiving letters and phone calls. Many of my friends from Louisiana have the opportunity to go home every weekend and spend time with their families. Since I am so far away from home I do not get this opportunity so I learn to look to others for support as I would my parents. Being away from home has helped me learn how to be more responsible, and how to look to others besides my family from for support. Here at BYU-Idaho we are given different Family Home Evening groups. Family Home Evening is something that leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ask us to participate in. We are to take time to spend time with out families every Monday night. Since many students who attend this school are members of the LDS Church we are given Family Home Evening groups, which consist of a variety of people, to participate in. This has helped me to meet new people, and have friends that can help me just as my family would. I think that having a type of group in college that can be similar to a family helps the students focus on their school work and other responsibilities. I know that in my life having family members call me helps me to feel better about myself. I believe that for the average college student families are important.