This is a machine transcription and is subject to error. Apologizes in advance. 

hi my name is Jessica Green I'm the wellness coordinator here at Stonehill College. and we are
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going to be interviewing a student named Peter talking with him about his
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introduction to college transitioning some struggles he's faced and also some
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mental health issues that he's experienced in hopes to help future students.
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Hi Peter welcome. Hi Jess welcome. how are you doing today. good good good
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so I just wanted to get started and just ask you a little bit about what college
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life was like for you what was that transition like from high school to college and your first
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semester. yeah absolutely I don't have talked little bit in the past
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but just to reiterate and go over that again. I had a tough transition coming
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to college. I struggled making deep connections
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with other students um and it wasn't really until I started to get involved
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the end of my freshman to sophomore year. I really was on the verge of transferring
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my friend base wasn't what it is now. um. so yeah it wasn't really into like involved
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um and really apply for leadership positions where I was able to make deep connections. I think
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that's so important to say because sometimes I think students do feel that way they get to school and
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they think maybe they have expectations that it might end up being you know one way they have all these thoughts
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about what college is like and how they're gonna experience it and then they get here and after a week
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or two and that newness wears off that feeling of I'm just not sure if it's a good fit for me or not.
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and the thoughts of oh should I stay should I go do I transfer out. I
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think that's very common so I commend you for being honest about the yeah there there's almost like a the lull you have that
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you know the excitement orientation you meet all these people but they're not really your friends yet so you're kind of in the situation
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where you have your friends at home and but you're away from your friends and family
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and and and you're alone and you're on your own and it's daunting and it's truly daunting
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and there's really no way to explain the feeling yeah. thank you. so what
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what kinda made you stick it out you said that you started to get involved what was the turnaround point for you.
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you wanna talk about that. yeah so I was kind of I was transferring. I live
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in Rhode Island I had my ya know papers into providence college actually was I ready to leave
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and on a whim I have applied to to be an RA and I applied to be a peer mentor
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and luckily they they liked me and I had that I got accepted to both positions.
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I'm right in my first year and in those trainings and and those experiences where I met
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some of the best people my life and I was able to really connect with people on deep levels that I didn't
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I didn't personally have that experience in my first year res hall. yeah I think that's really hard
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trying to start a new place find new
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hobby. also trying not to overwhelm yourself I hear that a lot about first year students
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not wanting to get too involved because you make sure that you have time for academics.
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so there's kind of a fine balance and so I hear you saying loud and clear that
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you know trying to find a new hobby or activity or a
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new venue. that way you can meet different people have different experiences feel a little more connected.
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that was what helped you. absolutely I mean my only my my biggest prices would be just to get out get involved
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sign up for everything. people understand that you won't be able to do everything and and as first year students you will drop
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things but something will stick something something will be bound to stick. yeah. thank you I appreciate it.
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I'm wondering when you're going through this to did you talk to anyone about how you're feeling or did you kinda keep it to yourself.
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how did you handle that. yeah. I struggle I struggled with opening up to people.
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I'm not I'm not the most open person so it really made things harder for me. I
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have my family at home. um but I mean I truly if I'm being honest with you
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I didn't talk to as many people as I should have I
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think that's also very common I think that we hold things inside and we sometimes put on the space
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everything 's you know fine and happy and I'm smiling and things are okay I mean outside but on the inside
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we feel like we're really struggling we don't have that person to open up too. so. so I just wanna
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kinda put it out there for everybody that if you're feeling that way and you did want to reach out
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to some you have a lot of really great resources here at Stonehill. the health and wellness Center counseling
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services. you're wonderful ra, peer mentors student leaders
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even your faculty we have small class sizes for reason a lot of our students
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are sometimes surprised that they can you know reach out to faculty during their office hours are after
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hours to work on projects and assignments. yeah at Stonehill
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everyone's ready to listen. everyone's ready to listen no matter if it's professor fellow student
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a faculty member everyone a staff member everyone's here for you and you just have to come to learn that
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absolutely and I'm wondering about your
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second semester when you did decide to stay here um I'm wondering if you can just talk about
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some of the things during the next couple of years that you found
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really rewarding as I really really enjoyed during your time here and still know that made you glad that you stay one
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thing honestly it was it was getting into fitness. I the gym helped me a lot. I would go
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I would you know build it into my schedule and it tell me relieve stress. I'm not a big talker
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so I needed to get stress out someway somehow. and the gym is big for me just
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scheduling it no matter how busy I am me right now as senior you know I go six thirty in the morning and when I don't
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go my whole day is ruined and so really for me it was the rec center getting involved whether it's playing
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basketball friends or spending a couple hours in the gym. that was one thing that
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I needed that really showed up for me I think that's huge because I think that um not a lot of
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people realize the connection between physical activity and mental health it helps
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relieve stress it helps you sleep better at night gives you energy so physical fitness
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is really important. we are very blessed to have a very full rec
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sport center so if you don't wanna you know join a varsity sports team. they have all those
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different clubs and rec sports to get involved in as well as the state-of-the-art fitness center with free
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classes like yoga zumba bar. there's many
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many so also things to get involved and so that's great. next I just wanted to talk
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about mental health. and if you had any struggles with
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mental health during your time here as a student. if you wanted to speak to that. in case there's someone out there listening
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who may feel the same way and they might feel comfort in hearing your story.
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yeah. so my sophomore year one of my good friends passed away.
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she was studying abroad and got into a tragic accident um and it's hard to talk about. but
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it's important to talk about and through that experience it it forced me to see
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death and attempt to conceptualize what it means for someone to die
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and actually that that that affects a human being and affects our mental health and it effects.
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how we go about everyday life and that took a lot out of me after finally realizing
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that I belong here at Stonehill um tragedy like that happens
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and it was a struggle for me I had to wanted to talk to people I had to learn to open up because without
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that without my friends and family in that time. I'm not sure what I would've done so
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to be here today is a blessing truly a blessing. thank you so much for sharing and
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sorry that you had to go through that but I appreciate you being open and honest about that. I think that's something
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else that Stonehill does really well compared to a lot of other schools. when
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people are struggling. we really are there as a second family and so
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we don't know about that unless you open up and share what's going on but
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whether it's a traumatic event or personal struggle. we just wanna encourage people to speak
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up and and to reach out for help. I also wanted to ask you if you now thinking
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back you give me a graduating in a couple weeks you have any advice for our incoming freshmen
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about maybe how they could make their time here. a little bit better. yeah. get involved
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like I said man I mentioned earlier sign up for everything. you won't be able to do it all but somethings
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bound um sign up sign up sign up I apply apply apply. I
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can't push that anymore that's how you make those deep connections here at Stonehill whether it's
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through training or meeting or class meeting and sign up for everything teaching
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ideas course. I mean there are so many opportunities here in leadership positions just signed up and apply forever.
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actually everything you can. that's wonderful thank you so much and looking back
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over your last four years did you say that there's any truly rewarding or amazing
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moments that you would recommend students maybe take a part over try or things
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that you would recommend. did you take advantage of any of those internships or study
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abroad opportunities. yeah. so I I found a love for higher education
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while I was here I'm going crazy saying and I'm I'm gonna be at Boston college next year studying
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getting a Master's in higher education. so I really found value in our leadership positions specifically
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our peer mentor position. that's where I met my closest friends, my friend group and my girlfriend I mean I met
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everyone who I left today throughout the position um. so I that is the brightest
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moment of my life is applying to be a peer mentor and eventually being able to coordinate whole program. so
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that is that is my one shining moment. as a Stonehill student. that's amazing. thank you. absolutely
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there's a lot of those types of positions on campus we have lot of work study opportunities
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for students in many offices all throughout the college um a lot of
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volunteer opportunities and internships both home domestic and abroad.
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so if you're interested in getting out and seeing the world or staying close to home or traveling US.
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um I definitely recommend reaching out to those offices. so we'll thank you so much Peter for
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doing this interview I really appreciate you being here and giving this advice to our students. absolutely.
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thank you. stay tuned for more wellness podcasts and thank you for listening
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This is a machine transcription and is subject to error. Apologizes in advance.