Author Archives: dmekonnen1

Is anxiety a reoccurring issue in first year college students at a traditional 4-year school?

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Debora Mekonnen 

English 1102 

Professor, Rebecca Weaver, PhD 

April 21, 2022 

 

Introduction 

Anxiety is a feeling of uneasiness, such as worry or fear, and depending on the person, it can be mild or even severe. Anxiety in college is said to be the most common, recurring issue in college students at a traditional 4-year university. This issue should be talked about because if ignored, it can hinder individuals, leaving them feeling like there is something wrong with them. Instead, coming to terms and finding ways to cope could be a better method. The first step to improving anxiety is recognition, not shying away, or avoiding the topic whilst facing it head on. This matters because by helping oneself, they can, in time, become the best version of themselves.  

 

Discussion 

Although anxiety among college students may not be the most focused on, it is indeed one of the most common. According to Nicole J. LeBlanc, MA, and PhD Luana Marques, the sharpest increase in anxiety occurs during the initial transition to college. College students, leaving everything they know behind, with a brand-new start, tend to leave some feeling lost. They start to face new challenges, whether it’s having problems with roommates, adapting to new environments, or even trying to figure out just exactly who they are. In Robertson, Sarah M. C.’s text, “Randomized Controlled Trial Assessing the Efficacy of Expressive Writing in Reducing Anxiety in First-Year College Students: The Role of Linguistic Features,” they state first-year college students are also typically in the emerging adulthood developmental phase that occurs between 18 and 25 years of age (2). Students are expected to automatically be ready for such a life-changing experience at such an early age, which in turn, makes them feel so uneasy about it all, leading them to have anxiety. 

Some students are thrown into the world, having parents assume it’s the same as spending the night at a friend’s house, and leaving them with poor advice. It leaves college students afraid of what is to come, not knowing what to expect, especially since their parents don’t leave them with the best pep talks. In “Anxiety in College Students,” Imm, Jacob’s article, it’s written that “college is a new and exciting milestone, so it is common to have anticipatory anxiety in the weeks before heading off to campus. But anticipatory anxiety can be much more serious … For some, it can be crippling, preventing you from preparing for school appropriately or even making you consider not going to school at all. (1)” This is mostly due to “home-sickness” or even could be the case of separation anxiety. This is something that recurs in oncoming first-year students. Every year there are fresh faces, but with the same struggle.  

The main types of anxiety that college students tend to face are anticipatory anxiety, separation anxiety, social anxiety, test anxiety and anxiety over peer pressure. Although they all differ, all these distinct types of anxiety have something in common, they all leave you feeling fearful. Students start to feel overwhelmed with studies, on top of everything else. Educators and parents fail to acknowledge such things, telling students that how they feel is nothing but normal and that it’s what everybody goes through when attending college. In the article “Reappraising Test Anxiety Increases Academic Performance of First-Year College Students,” Brady, Shannon T states, “first-year students would report greater emotionality, greater worry, and less knowledge of how to perform well before their first exam in a psychology course (3).”  Such information is known as well as common, but still, not spoken about enough. 

Now on ways to cope with this crippling, recurring disorder, there are quite a few. “Anxiety lives and grows precisely because people are too quick to dismiss it. Once you know better where it comes from for college students, the next step is to identify anxiety symptoms and signs so they can be addressed,” it states in Jacob Imm’s article “Anxiety in College Students. “One that is highly recommended would be to take care of your physical health. Finding ways to improve on things such as blocking out negativity, managing it, and especially to surround yourself with support. One of the biggest things to remember is that it is ok, and that there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. Many people may not/ will not understand what someone facing anxiety is going through.  

Studies in anxiety show that every year, anxiety seems to rise the most when newcomers arrive. According to the American College Health Association Fall 2018 National College Health Assessment in Nicole J. LeBlanc, MA, and PhD Luana Marques’s article “Anxiety in College: What we know and how to cope,” it is stated that “63% of college students in the US felt overwhelming anxiety in the past year (1).” It tended to rise the most during newcomers’ first semester and “remains elevated throughout the second semester. “Attending a 4-year university, being introduced to new things, something completely opposite from everything you know, is very damaging to students. Students need time to process such tremendous changes in their lives, instead they are thrown in and expected to adapt almost immediately. And this is usually thrown at students, with no help from teachers or parents.  

In conclusion, anxiety is a recurring issue in first-year college students at a traditional 4-year school. Although parents may not be able to understand their children when facing certain types of anxiety, students seeking help where they can get it is the best option. The first step is acceptance, realizing there may need to be some specialized help. Another as well is to learn and understand that there is nothing wrong with any student that may be going through anxiety. That way, maybe someday, the rising growth of anxiety towards college students could soon start to decrease.  

 

Citations 

  • Nicole J. LeBlanc, MA, and PhD Luana Marques. “Anxiety in College: What We Know and How to Cope.” Harvard Health, 27 Aug. 2019, 
  • Imm, Jacob. “Anxiety in College Students.” Anxiety in College Students | North Central College, 4 Dec. 2020 
  • Robertson, Sarah M. C., et al. “Randomized Controlled Trial Assessing the Efficacy of Expressive Writing in Reducing Anxiety in First-Year College Students: The Role of Linguistic Features.” Psychology & Health, vol. 36, no. 9, Sept. 2021, pp. 1041–65. 
  • Brady, Shannon T., et al. “Reappraising Test Anxiety Increases Academic Performance of First-Year College Students.” Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 110, no. 3, Apr. 2018, pp. 395–406. 

Lipscomb2

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Debora Mekonnen

English 1102

SAR Paper

March 9, 2022

dmekonnen1@student.gsu.edu

 

Summary

 

Lipscomb University is a private Christian university in Nashville, Tennesse, founded by David Lipscomb and James A. Harding. The ideal student for Lipscomb is God fearing and a devoted Christian. Lipscomb encourages spiritual growth and cares deeply for its “well-rounded education,” which is why any student should be lucky to even be considered. It allows students to find their individual path due to small classroom sizes which differ from other universities. As for academics, it is a “nationally recognized research institution” whose undergraduate and graduate programs have been ranked one of the highest.

Analysis

The Lipscomb University web page uses the large rhetorical strategy of Inhabiting/ Engaging Social Roles and the rhetorical style of audience to persuade a certain group of readers. The social roles they play at Lipscomb University would be closest to stepfamily. The website tries to make you feel welcome, so often that it can come off as them trying a little too hard to prove something. And although they try to make you feel welcome, there’s still something missing. The rhetorical style of audience used was made to gain students with similar beliefs and faith and take the approach of religious paths to influence those across the country that this would be the best college for them. They mostly engage readers by using the rhetorical style of audience, mostly when touching on the “foundation of faith” (LU, 4) and togetherness. The target audience is towards Christians and those who believe of a higher power. More specifically those who believes their calling is specifically from God His self. However, religion and faith are not the only things Lipscomb tries to persuade readers with.

Their page not only leads to an influence on spiritual students but to academic ranking seekers as well. “Our undergraduate and graduate programs have been ranked among the highest in the country, including our education, health care and business programs, to name a few,” (LU, 2) it states. By stating this, it influences new students to take this knowledge and use it as a pro to pick this specific college. It also speaks about community and clubs, and it promises you an ideal place where people are accepted and connected through belief. Lipscomb’s primary focus is on faith and religion, and if people take a quick glance, it sometimes looks like that is all they have to offer students. But reading it thoroughly can cause students to do a double-take, realizing they may indeed have more to offer than they presumed. Lipscomb has clubs and programs that help deepen their students’ knowledge, they offer rigorous academic help.

While Lipscomb may be an all-around all about Christ school, they also seem to promise that students there “succeed in academic excellence” (LU, 6). Which shown on their page, seems to be true. Lipscomb is ranked high as a top-tier national university. They help students with academic issues, lending them resources and programs that help better their understanding and education. “You will be part of a campus recognized as much for its quality as its generosity, with programs that propel your imagination as much as your career, technologies that transcend boundaries as they build communities, faculty whose curiosity is matched only by their compassion, and students like yourself whose characters are as deep as their faith” (LU, 1). Most Universities go in with the intent of capturing students with facts and academics, but Lipscomb leading with compassion and friendship changes the narrative. By continuing with this, they engage students with a “everyone loves it here” attitude, their initial intent making them different from any other establishment.

In this website, they try to prove to readers that they would love it there, of course using Inhabiting / Engaging Social Roles the rhetorical style of audience. Eventually, the stepfamily starts to feel alright, like a second home almost, once they get comfortable. And as for the audience, although they seem to highlight faith as well as which group to target, they prove that although Lipscomb may be a Christian school, their schooling is nothing but top tier. Their community and togetherness show you that anybody is welcome. These types of things influence new coming first-year students, that have no idea of what to expect of college. If anything, Lipscomb is a great decision for students that may feel like they won’t fit in at most schools. They use this to their advantage, knowing they have what most schools do not, love, peers and faculty that genuinely care.

Response

 

  If money were not the issue, I honestly don’t think I would go, it’s nothing personal, it just doesn’t seem like they have much diversity at Lipscomb, due to the pictures they display. It seems like even for groups, sports, and clubs it only displays white people, versus any other race. Aside from this, I have always imagined staying in Goergia. But if this school resided in Georgia and if it were more diverse, I’d definitely want to attend. Although I am Christian, the specific type of Christianity that the school teaches and what I personally follow do not align. Although it might cause problems, I believe that as long as I don’t engage in all aspects of the religious part of the school, I will be alright. My religious background is of the Orthodox church, similar to the Catholic beliefs but still not quite the same. Past the religious barriers, the academic aspect looks good and exciting but for all its claims on the website, you would think it was a nationwide known school, but it seems like the only people that take a knowing to it, is if you resign in Tennesse. To me, it seems like a union, with friendship and care from the students and teachers. Although a few values about faith align with mine, it makes me feel like their caring and nurturing is authentic. I have to say, If I were a senior in high school trying to see which school would be best for me, I would have chosen this one, if it was in Georgia, of course. They sell it well when it comes to capturing the new coming first-year audience. Personally, I feel that I would have blended in well, this says a lot since I’ve never been able to blend well in previous schools. I just wish there were a bit more diversity showcased. If it were not for the lack of diversity Lipscomb University would be my dream school.

 

Lipscomb University College of Business EARNS AACSB International Accreditation. Lipscomb University | A Private Christian College in Nashville Tenn. (n.d.). Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://www.lipscomb.edu/

 

Introducing Armani Smith

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Hey guys, I’d like you to meet Armani Smith. Armani is 18 years of age and is a freshman, majoring in Health Administration at Georgia State. She is the first person in her family to attend college, making her a first-generation college student. While attending college, she also juggles a part-time job as a pharmacy technician. On the phone, we discussed the process of becoming a pharmacy tech and why that made her want to continue and strive for a degree in the health journey. She enjoys the environment and wants nothing more than to follow that pathway. 

Armani was born in Miami, Florida and attended school there K-8 and the rest here in Georgia. She has 3 siblings, 2 sisters and 1 brother. She attended Lithonia High school for the duration of all 4 years. She loves the Hip-Hop genre of music, one of her favorites being Lil Durk. During her spare time she loves to shop and watch television. She describes herself as a good student while in grade school and that she misses when life was a bit less stressful. Being a kid sounds more fun when you’ve actually grown up.

Armani is an outstanding student that truly has the desire to learn and go after what she wants. Although Armani has a need for it, she feels like the hardest thing for her is to find the perfect way to study. As we were communicating via phone and in-class, I’ve learned to find out that Armani hopes to finish her associates here at Clarkston and her Bachelors at the Atlanta Campus.

One word that describes Armani’s academic self would be motivated. She is very motivated about sticking to college and finishing her needed classes. She’s willing to put in the hard work to make her dreams and aspirations come true. Some noticeable difference from Armani’s High-school self and College self is that she studies. In High-school, Armani tended on not studying because frankly, she didn’t really need to. She felt as though she did well without it, but in College she shortly realized ignorer to do well, she’d have to break that pattern.

Handling both a job and school might be difficult for some people, but not Armani. She dedicated time for both regardless of the circumstance which is something most people can’t and won’t do. By doing both, she makes ends meet while also exceeding in school. 

In conclusion, although Armani has a lot to juggle, school will always be her main priority. She tries her best, and is determined to continue her Health Administration path. Her dedication and aspirations gives others an insight on what they can do to better themselves and their habits. Armani broke a cycle she’s been doing since High-School, showing that you can change things for the better and have good outcomes. That alone, makes her a top-tier student.