Make the Most of the Summer Before Your Freshman Year!

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Congratulations seniors on making it to the end of your high school journey! You should be so proud of the hard work you put in the past four years, and while this current chapter of your life is coming to an end, your upcoming years as a Boilermaker will be just as, if not more amazing. There are just under three months until Boiler Gold Rush starts, so as someone who just finished their freshman year, I want to share a few ways you can make the most of your last year before college.

My friends and I outside of Meredith South residence hall

One of the most exciting things about freshman year is having your own dorm room, which you can personalize however you’d like. Last summer, I had so much fun slowly accumulating dorm decor, as I was always on the lookout for decorations whenever I went shopping. A fun way to hang out with friends over the summer is to go thrifting for dorm decor together. Thrift stores can carry stuff from posters and art pieces for your walls, to fun lamps, and fun items to decorate your desk with. By thrifting items you decorate your dorm with, you’re not only being environmentally friendly, but you can create a room that is uniquely yours. Once you learn your roommate assignment, or if you’ve found your roommate already, from following a color scheme to sharing decorations, coordinating aspects of the room together can be a fun way to get to know each other better. Your college dorm room is yours to personalize and deciding how you’ll do that is such a fun thing to do over the summer!

When my classes first started last fall, I realized that I was a bit rusty in my calculus and physics courses. In math, while I was being taught all of the new concepts in great detail, I noticed I had forgotten some of the basic calculus principles such as trig integrals and logarithm rules. If you find you have extra time this summer, a great way to use it would be to touch up on the fundamentals of the engineering courses you’ll be taking next semester. If you purchase your textbooks before getting to campus, it can be helpful to read over the first few chapters to familiarize yourself and refresh yourself on the content. Doing this will help you feel more prepared and will ease the transition and workload you’ll experience during the first few weeks of the school year.

My most important piece of advice to make the most out of this summer is to spend as much time as you can with friends and family. As amazing as FaceTime and phone calls are, it’s difficult not to see many high school friends and family members from home until Thanksgiving and Christmas break. Soak up the time you have at home with these people by planning beach and pool days, trying new restaurants and museums, going on walks or runs, and finding ways to have fun together. As exciting as it was for me to meet so many new people freshman year, I found there to be many days where I missed my loved ones from home. I was so appreciative of the time I spent with these people over the summer as I really cherished the memories I made.

I’m so happy for you to begin engineering at Purdue in the fall! Freshman year was the most exciting year of my life, and I had more new experiences than I could’ve ever imagined. Your freshman year begins is less than three months away, but stay in the present and have such a fun summer!

Maddie French, CompE '27

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