Goshen College appeals in many ways to prospective students, be it through a sport, the nursing program or something else entirely. This year’s enrollment happens to be a historic win for admissions. Not only for all our incoming freshmen, but also for transfers. For context, at last fall’s transfer orientation I counted less than twenty incoming transfers. This semester that number has swelled to a total of  “52 incoming transfer students” according to Steve Wolma, GC’s vice president for enrollment management. 

Given the massive influx of transfers in particular, I’ve been asked to share a bit on my experience adjusting to and attending GC the past two semesters after transferring from abroad–though it’s no success story and more of a tale about trying to fit in. 

It was a good morning in Langley, British Columbia, Canada when I left for GC last August. The drive to the airport was not especially scenic for the area — though it was complete with towering mountains, verdant evergreens and ocean views. A far cry from rural Indiana for sure. It was — and still is — kind of like another world (at least geographically). I was watching this world I had grown up in pass by through the car window, when I started thinking about the things most dear to me: my family, my friends and the dog that I had raised through the pandemic. 

Regret — or rather the anticipation of it began to set in. At my old college I was going strong with a 3.9 GPA with good internships lined up, a cheap tuition and a supportive social circle to boot. So why, on God’s green earth, was I transferring? Why would I move halfway across the continent and leave everything I knew? Let alone to a small town, at a far more costly private school where I knew next to no one. 

It wouldn’t be accurate to boil the decision down to any one factor, or to any one of the individuals that encouraged me to attend GC. It was a build up of many things that painted the college as an ideal place to grow and learn alongside others. In other words, it was the promise of a tightly-knit community and quality education that was bringing me to GC. 

Fortunately for me, I had a few things going my way coming into GC. For one, my brother graduated from here back in 2019, so I had some ideas about how some things worked ahead of time. More to my advantage than that is that I’m both a cis white guy in a largely white institution, while also being a baptized Mennonite at a Mennonite college. Consequently there were a lot of challenges that I have never encountered, nor will likely ever encounter during my time at GC that people of other identities and belongings have to face in their adjustment process and in their day-to-day. Yet even though I fit the Goshen College Mennonite cookie cutter, ingratiating myself into the college’s well-woven social fabric would prove to take a lot of extra leg work. 

Pretty early on I decided to go out of my way to talk to anyone who I thought was friendly. Despite being pretty awkward – I got to know a lot of folks during this time. However I had a hard time feeling like I belonged anywhere on campus. This is not an uncommon sentiment among college students by any means, especially among transfers. As numbers from last year’s satisfaction survey, provided by Justin Heinzekhr, director of institutional research and assessment, states that on a seven point scale, a sense of belonging among all transfers was 0.49 points lower than first-time students.

Eventually I ended up trying way too hard in putting myself out there. I began to not only feel isolated, but also that I was intruding on other people just by being around. Any prior notion I had about Goshen College’s community life became void and I was completely regretting my decision to transfer here. I missed everything about home and was in a pretty dark emotional place. Needless to say I was homesick. 

It wasn’t until later into last fall semester that I would begin to resurface somewhere I did not expect: club leadership. Becoming a student leader in Ecopax and in the Roleplaying Game Club allowed me to direct all that social angst into something productive. Coupled with counseling, those responsibilities helped me put my social life into sharper perspective. Coming into college, I was so preoccupied with adapting to the new environment. I had forgotten to look beyond my own situation. Just as I recognized that, friendships began to develop more naturally and I saw that I was far from the only person, be they transfer, first year, sophomore or upperclassman, who was struggling here at GC. 

I will end this story with a challenge for all members of the Goshen College community: regardless of whether you are fully at home at GC or just getting started, don’t forget to look beyond yourself and lend a helping hand to those around you.

 

Zachary Shields is a junior social work and peace, justice and conflicts studies double major from British Columbia, Canada.