While South Lyon, Michigan is just a two-hour drive from Calvin University, Abigail Puzemis saw heading to the Grand Rapids campus as an opportunity to experience a diverse learning environment, something she said was lacking in her hometown.
“I thought [going to the Entrada Scholars Program] would be so cool, because South Lyon is a predominantly white city, and I didn’t grow up with people of color around me, so this would be a great opportunity to meet new people, find new friends,” said Puzemis.
Puzemis has discovered just that over the past few weeks and will be starting her higher ed journey at Calvin this fall as a biology major on a pre-med track. She is pursuing her dream of becoming a pediatric psychiatrist.
How has your view of college changed since attending Entrada?
I think going into college I thought it was going to be like high school but more spread out. So, [I thought] I wouldn’t have to go to school for seven hours of the day and then play sports. But now that I’m here, I realize you go to class for three-to-four hours and then you are consistently working throughout the rest of the day. I thought I was going to have so much free time, but college is so much harder than high school already. And what Entrada teaches you is how to buckle down, double-check things, and ask people for help. The community of collaboration is absolutely insane. We are all helping each other.
What is your greatest takeaway from this experience?
I think probably that you are not alone in anything you are doing here. Right when you wake up, going to breakfast, you are always surrounded by community. If something is wrong you have someone to talk to, RAs that care about you. All of your profs care about you, all of your classmates are working together, studying together, we all want to succeed together. It’s nice to know you are not alone in this very big transition.
Because of Entrada, I feel more confident in …
My ability to be successful in college. I know a lot of people who are going into college who haven’t done college courses before. They never had to read 60-70 pages a night and take notes on all of it. I think Entrada gives you the college experience without just throwing you in the deep end.
How would you have felt had you not had this experience before college?
I think I would be super stressed out trying to navigate the first week of school, trying to manage my time, make new friends. That’s all very overwhelming. I think Entrada at least gives you a community going into Calvin, so you already have friends, because a lot of us are going to Calvin in the fall. I also think in Entrada you only do one class, so getting a taste of what you need to do for college, instead of going in and having six classes.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Especially if you are not a very big people person, I think it’s important to throw yourself out there anyways. Coming to Entrada, a lot of people don’t know anybody here, so everyone is in the same pool trying to navigate making new friends while juggling coursework. But, it’s important to give it a go. Nobody’s left behind here, you’re all in the program together and you are going to make friends, going to learn how to navigate everything.
