ST. BONAVENTURE (Mar. 27) – Ashley Bynum wipes away her tears as she calls her sister in New York City after feeling left out and abandoned by her peers at St. Bonaventure University campus.
As students watch their families depart the college parking lot, they say that college is a new beginning and they realize they’re on their own for the first time.
Students say going to college and being in a new environment can be the great experience they have hoped for. However, some students say it has become the opposite. Symptoms of depression can happen to students with the change in environment and social life around them, counselors say.
“One factor is if people come into this kind of environment from home and they do not connect with other people meaningfully, it can lead to depression,” says Michele Rodkey, a counselor at Bonaventure’s Counseling Center.
“Back home I had a lot of friends, but after coming to Bonaventure I had a hard time coping with the change and making meaningful relationships with people,” says Bynum. “It’s not that I didn’t want to, but when I tried, I was turned off by people, my best friend and I were not invited out or I was isolated.”
