Making New Friends

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Contributor: Van Duc Nguyen

I have been in the United States for over four years now. In August 24th 2013, I started my career as a college student or for what I would say is my preparation to be “ready-for-the-world.” I’m a little bit nervous about this journey because I cannot be a kid anymore, I’m a young adult. I’m nervous also because everything is completely different from my military high school, where I spent 3 years and where everybody knew me. Now, I’m here in a school of almost 21,000 students and it seems impossible to know everybody. I have therefore decided that the right path for me is to make friends wherever I can, in classes, at work, during sporting events and not only with students but also with professors.

Even though JMU might seem big to me, most classes have 25 to 30 individuals. It is a small number when you take into consideration that there are about 21,000 students on this campus but JMU actually cares about the quality of its students.

This year, my classes are a little bit more difficult than I thought. My homework has become more challenging. Fortunately, classes are good when you have friends and teachers who actually care about your well-being and success. Thank to the small sizes of the classes it is easier for the professors to know your name and to keep an eye on you.

Among the many stories that I can think of about my academic life, I want to share with you the following one as it exemplifies how I gained a lot of confidence for myself. As usual, I walked into my COB 191: Business Statistics, class taught by Dr. Jeffrey May, expecting for the class to go on as always but it did not turn out that way. It was not the fact that we had a review session for our upcoming exam that surprised me but rather what happened at the end of the class.

Just as the class time was up, Dr. May held us back a little bit and announced to the class: “It’s someone’s birthday, let’s give a shout out to Van Nguyen.” At that moment, everybody started singing happy birthday even though I did not know most of them. Dr. May made it possible for me to get to know my classmates more than ever and to make new friends with them. Even though they were very different from me and came from many different backgrounds and situations (some were dancers, football players, and even a tall basketball player who might have been twice as tall as I was) I felt very included and happy.

Some people just hate school because of different reason but if you ask me, I love JMU classes. Professors make their students come closer to each other and friends. Not only have I forgotten all about my nervousness but now I look forward to going to my classes.


[Insights are a series of blogs written by
our globally minded LINKers and occasional guest writers
about their own JMU experiences. Click 
here to read more insights]


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Published: Monday, September 1, 2014

Last Updated: Monday, January 22, 2024

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