By: Katelyn Norris
This story is part of the It’s a Knight Life for Me series, which highlights the experiences of every Bellarmine cohort across a variety of students. This story contains the experiences of two first-year students.
Students’ first year of college is about finding routines and learning about their places at the university. First-year students Olivia Gamsky and Esha Khan are tackling the start of their college career differently, but they are both dedicated to finding where they fit best at BU.
Gamsky said her first year has been punctuated by Covid-19 and the outdoors. She said she was attracted to BU after her first tour and seeing the numerous trees on campus.
“I guess I have always grown up around a lot of trees and everything, so it was really comforting. I remembered going down the hill from the Siennas and seeing a skyline that’s full of trees. It was all green and pretty. It all felt very homey,” Gamsky said.
She said she has continued this love of BU greenery when she needs a break from online classes. Gamsky said she and her roommate go for walks around campus to get out of their room.
“It’s one of the things I appreciate the most so far, especially with COVID-19,” Gamsky said. “There is not a ton of things that actually get me out of my room, so it’s nice to have a place that I enjoy being in physically.”
Gamsky said she finds the experience of online classes to be alienating and isolating. She said she has taken every opportunity to have in-person class during her first semester but she has found it difficult to reach out to others and make acquaintances through clubs.
She said the person who has made her BU experience feel less isolating is her roommate, Lily Miller. She said they met through the housing application portal and decided they would be good to room together.
“Meeting my roommate for the first time was super exciting and was definitely a highlight of my whole year,” Gamsky said.
Miller said when she and Gamsky met “something just clicked” and Gamsky is a perfect roommate. She said Gamsky is someone whom she has grown to trust.
“Olivia is integral to my first-year experience here at BU,” Miller said. “During the fall semester, I had mostly online classes, so she was one of the only people I interacted with. She is just an uplifting person and willing to listen any time you need her.”
Fellow first-year Khan said she has had a quite turbulent first year, partly because her living arrangement for the year is a “learning situation.” However, she said she adapted to the rooming situation and the hurdle of online learning.
“I have lived with a roommate before, but this experience with my current roommate is a very interesting situation. Even though we don’t get along all the time, there are some parts of the living that we do get along, like we are able to bounce ideas off one another,” Khan said.
Khan said despite her issues with online learning, she is trying to keep a positive mindset. She said one positive thing is her connection to people on campus, particularly Dr. Roberta Challener, associate professor of biology. Khan said Challener inspires her as a scientist and as a person.
Challener said she hopes Khan has a transformative four years at BU because she is already impressed with her a student. Challener said she believes Khan will be a great leader in her chosen field for biology.
“Esha is the kind of student who lives for the challenge,” Challener said. “She seems to be one of the students who will be a change agent and demand the change they see fit.”
Khan said this has been her goal during her first year at BU. She said she is trying out many clubs and organizations to see where she fits in best. Khan said she is trying to make change in anything she can to leave Bellarmine a better place.
“I only want to work on things that I am passionate about because if I picked something I didn’t care too much about, then I would be miserable. That was my mindset coming into Bellarmine. I wanted to advocate for what I wanted to see on campus,” Khan said. “I always say try things out at least once and see where to go from there.”
Gamsky said she is uncertain which organizations she wants to join because she said it’s hard to meet people when they are all online. However, she said she has been active with BUKnighted and said the in-person events are something she looks forward to.
“I think Bellarmine is doing the best they can. I haven’t joined too many clubs, but one of the ones I’m most involved in is BUKnighted, and they just have so many events all the time so it’s super easy to be engaged or be a part of something,” Gamsky said.
Gamsky said she is looking forward to a fresh start next year. She said she knows a lot of things change going into sophomore year and she is ready for the next chapter.
“I tried hanging out with my friends this semester, but it’s been difficult,” Gamsky said. “I feel like there is a lot of stuff to look forward to next year, and while this year hasn’t been awful, it hasn’t felt amazing yet. One day it will get there.”
Khan said she feels a similar way about this year. She said her first year at BU was a bit different than she imagined, but she is glad the BU community was able to come together to help her make the most of out of her first year.
“My expectations before Covid were high, but now I don’t have high expectations and I have to be pragmatic, and I am lucky and happy I get to come to campus this semester,” Khan said. “We were like ‘This is Bellarmine and we are going to make it happen and make it better.’”
