As Westmont enters its 12th week since the beginning of the semester, students find themselves to be in all sorts of different moods. Some are excited for what lies ahead and some dread what’s waiting around the corner. Some students rejoice that midterm season has passed while others fear finals season on the horizon. With all this in mind, the time has come once again to check up on the students of the class of 2027 and see how they are holding up in comparison to how they thought they would at the start of the year.

At the start of the year, many first-year students had expectations of how they thought the year might go and how difficult their personal setup of classes and other activities would make it. However, the question is, did these things remain constant as the year progressed? Asher Trammel replied, “I figured it would be super easy to keep up with classes and work, and so far it’s still been super easy to keep up.” This is a man confident in his work indeed! Another student, Joey Tonelli, says “Westmont has been awesome, the workload has been pretty much what I expected at the start of the year, and thanks to the teachers, it’s been very manageable.” A beautiful sentiment to hear when a student has been having a great year without much difficulty in their studies as well.

In many cases, finding favorites among the many things that Westmont offers after arrival 12 weeks ago didn’t take long, whether it be a school activity, a specific class or hanging out with friends. Sometimes these things remain consistent, but sometimes as students discover more and explore more of their environment, the things that they once considered important may change. When first-year student Caleb Hook was asked if any of his favorite things at Westmont had changed, he replied, “DC pizza is no longer my favorite food there and the mountains turned out to be much better for hiking than I thought they would.” Relating to students’ favorite aspects of Westmont, an anonymous student comments, “My perception of what I wanted has definitely changed since the start of the year.” People say college is a place for change and growth, it’s a good thing the students of Westmont are ready to embrace that change as well.

Then of course, all students have things they are looking forward to and things they are dreading in the upcoming future. Another student who wished to keep their name anonymous replied, “I have really enjoyed Jesus Burgers and my church community, and I am definitely looking forward to getting to know people here at Westmont better, but I also dread the day when I will have to leave.” Surely many students can relate with this student’s joys and fears. Having to depart from the fabulous Westmont community is surely a bummer. Another anonymous student says, “I do hope that I’ll be able to find time in my schedule to practice music, but I do constantly dread Saturday lunches here, period.” However, amongst all the dreads that students might have, surely there is one that all students can share: midterms. Though they may be tough, one student says, “I believe that they are a good challenge for character growth.” Another student, who seems to have had a much easier time than most on midterms, replies with two simple words concerning how they describe midterms: “Light work.” However, surely not all students have felt that they were this easy, as another student answered with a very different two word answer: “Abolish them.” But while midterm season is just about over, finals season wastes no time creeping up to take its place.

In comparison to how first-year students felt at the start of the year, some student’s thoughts have certainly changed their perceptions as to how the semester will go, but for some, the semester is going exactly as they had originally planned. Whatever the case might be, this is only the beginning of their college experience, and surely the story will have much more to tell with a bright future ahead.