Community at Barnard: Chloe's Story
Going into college, I was nervous about finding an environment with a strong sense of community and support. I came from a small school in North Jersey, where all of my classes had fewer than twenty students. Everyone in my high school knew each other, and my teachers always found a way to make their classroom a welcoming and supportive space. I was very fortunate to have the security of knowing that my peers and teachers would be there for me.
As I applied to colleges, I always had the impression that the class sizes would be large lectures, the campus would be filled with unfamiliar faces, and teachers would seldom remember your name. Although I wanted to be part of an institution that provided me with the resources of a large university, I was concerned about the lack of support and familiarity that I had imagined universities to be like. However, my concerns all seemed to fade away when I toured Barnard. It felt like a perfect match and had everything I wanted. From the small class sizes and the tight-knit community to the accessible resources of Columbia, I knew Barnard was the perfect fit.
As I reflect on my first-year at Barnard, I am amazed by the actions that both students and faculty have taken to support our community. Even with the many unexpected challenges we faced this year, I never felt alone. The week that classes transitioned online, my inbox was flooded with messages from teachers, checking-in with their students and extending deadlines. My teachers utilized their classrooms, both in-person and online, to foster a community that extended far beyond the semester. It quickly became apparent that the faculty at Barnard made sure students felt supported within the community.
Although most of my classes were quite small, the first semester of my first year at Barnard I chose to take a computer science class at Columbia. The first time I walked into the lecture hall, I didn’t know anyone and was overwhelmed by the two-hundred other students in the room. This was by far the largest class I had ever taken, and as I sat down, I frantically looked around for a familiar face. Once I scanned the room, I realized I saw a hand waving at me and recognized a girl from my floor inviting me to sit with her. Even though it had only been two weeks since coming to college and introducing myself to her in a brief conversation, she still happily welcomed me. These experiences continued happening throughout the year and when I was alone walking into class, I was almost never alone walking out.
The fears that I had as a senior in high school were pretty common amongst all of my friends. It’s daunting to leave the familiar space of your home, but Barnard made it really easy for me. I never expected to be able to walk through campus and see familiar faces everywhere in college or even just feel the support that I do at Barnard.
-Chloe Siao