For a majority of the students here at Elizabethtown College, the start of the fall semester means moving back to their dorms, meeting up with old friends and getting back into the swing of things with classes and activities. But not every student has been accustomed to an around-the-clock life on campus. 15 percent of students commute, and simply don’t stick around until nighttime. For Cassidy Rohrman, this was the case for her first two years. This year, she decided she wanted a different experience.

Rohrman is a junior Public Health major and active participant in E-motion. Over the course of her time at Etown, she has found a group of friends with whom she regularly plays Dungeons & Dragons. However, she had some difficulty making connections during her first year.

“I struggled to make lasting friendships since I was always going home every day, and never spent much time on campus except to attend class,” she said.

Despite her troubles engaging with campus life, Rohrman was cozy at home in Windsor. “I liked being able to sleep in a full size bed every night, have all seven of my cats to cuddle and being able to see and spend time with my family every day,” she said, reminiscing on her time as a commuter.

But she also explained that driving an hour and a half each day wasn’t ideal. “I like being able to wait 15 minutes to get to class instead of having to wake up two hours earlier to get ready and leave,” she said. “I also drive and work significantly less than I used to, so I have more downtime to do schoolwork and be with my friends.”

Rohrman lives in Myer Residence Hall, and although it’s different from what she’s used to, she enjoys it.

“I got lucky to have a friend be my roommate instead of a stranger,” she said. Many first-year students are paired with roommates based on their survey answers, leaving them to get to know each other and learn to cooperate quickly in a new and sometimes stressful environment. Rohrman believes her transition to dorm life was made easier by skipping that experience. She’s also happy to be in a building without hall-style bathrooms, and her room is big enough to fit all her decorations.

Rohrman has also enjoyed having a Starbucks so close. The Blue Bean is her favorite spot on campus, and she visits nearly every day.

“Living on campus has overall been a great experience for me,” she said. But she didn’t expect the extent to which her life would change after the transition. Even her diet and sleep schedule are different from her previous years while commuting, as she spends more time with friends and eating at the Marketplace rather than home-cooked meals.

Since the move, she’s begun to attend more events on-campus. “I feel far more connected to campus life and my friends than I did as a commuter,” she said. “However, I would not have spent my prior years before junior as a resident, because being a commuter was still a valuable time in my college experience.”