Graduating from college can mean many things for a person. Some students will move on to graduate school, some will move back in with their parents, some will participate in service, like the Peace Corps and some will get a job and embark on an exciting, yet sometimes terrifying part of life: entering the real world.
Many students feel as though they are unprepared to live on their own, such as junior Lacie Flores, who said she has “no clue how the real world works.”
Senior Resident Assistant (RA) Dana Foedisch said she is very uncomfortable with the idea of living alone following her graduation.
“I could not function without parental support. I need to learn how to do taxes and deal with my finances,” she said.
The act of engaging in behaviors associated with adulthood has been labeled as “adulting,” a term that has exploded over the past year according to Time Magazine. According to Cosmopolitan, the term “adulting” has increased in usage by 700 percent on Twitter in the past year.
Jane Soloman, a lexicographer at Dictionary.com, wrote an article pertaining to adulting and how the word’s use by millennials is often to acknowledge the transition to adulthood in a joking way, which can help them come to grips with this sometimes difficult transition.
“Graduation can be a bit of a wake-up call. Students need to be able to fend for themselves,” junior Gareth Saunderlin said.
Adulting does not have to be scary. Some students, such as junior Joe Santos, feel as though they are comfortable with their ability to live on their own. But for those who do not, Residence Life at Elizabethtown College will hold another series of adulting sessions after Spring Break. These will be open to all students to try to help ease the transition out of college.
Area Coordinator Dominick DiLoreto has been a part of the College’s adulting classes in the past and is working on planning the upcoming events as well.
“Research about Generation Z in higher education has shown us that they desire practical learning experiences,” he said. “I would posit that adulting classes and experiences appeal to the desire of practical learning. I’ll strive to focus on (1) what they want to learn about based on their feedback and (2) what best practices [to] suggest for adulting.”
DiLoreto believes that everybody should feel well-equipped when leaving college, especially when it comes to practical things such as how to get an apartment or how to fix a flat tire on a car. The sessions last year came with good feedback and the students that attended found it to be a positive experience.
There will be surveys and focus groups mostly sent to students who live in Independent Living Units (ILU) to decide what the topics and programming the adulting sessions will be based on. All students will be invited to participate in these events. Sophomore Sarah Fake says that she would consider attending some of the sessions now, depending on the topic, but she would pay more attention closer to her graduation. She said she realizes that there are parts of life that cannot be understood until they are experienced because every situation will be different.
Some steady topics that students have expressed the desire to learn more about through this program are finances, from basic taxes to making large purchases, finding an apartment, beginning a new life in a new place, general handiness and general domesticity topics such as cleaning, cooking and buying groceries. Depending on the workshop, these events will likely take place in the Mosaic House or a classroom in Hoover.
DiLoreto has been drawing many ideas for these adulting sessions from the book “Adulting: How to Become a Grown-Up in 535 Easy(ish) Steps” by Kelly Williams Brown as well as his personal experiences.
