On a Sunday evening after arriving in Tempe from San Diego, I had an epiphany. After a brief visit home, I realized that I really am on my own and I really am taking a taxi cab back to campus. I had just navigated Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport on my own and had just taken my first solo flight, somehow successfully, considering I had laryngitis. With my raspy voice, I tried to explain to the driver where Barrett, The Honors College was, although Tempe was still new territory for me. Luckily, I ended in the right place. It was almost amusing considering the circumstances.
Going away to college is an immense life event for most teenagers. It’s a big change in responsibility. This is why many young adults choose a school within a few miles of home, which is convenient—but often seems only a slight extension of high school. It’s important for young people to experience college as more than a sleep-away camp. Part of the challenge of college, and the opportunity for real growth, lies in taking on a different city, climate, coast or culture, really changing from the way you lived at home. In the process of striving to acclimate yourself, you find out what your strengths and weaknesses are, what you like and don’t like, and what feels right and wrong to you. If you never experience a different setting, you may not establish a worldview that enhances your education. I believe that attending an out-of-state college teaches students to be more independent because they are on their own, although maybe not financially, and do not have their parents nearby.

For 18 years, our parents have been there for us, provided us a home, and been ready to help us overcome trepidations. Likewise, birds build nests to house their offspring and protect them from predators. An eagle builds its nest with a strong foundation and then searches for items to furnish its future offspring’s nest. For the first three months, the newborn eagles spend their time in the nest their parents created, with protection and comfort nearby.

After living in such a fortified and familiar home, it is difficult to merely pack our belongings and leave. Sometimes we need the extra push; sometimes we freely accept and move on to a new stage of our lives. After three months, the mother eagle begins to remove the comfort from the nest until only the foundation and hard sticks are left. She pulls out all the fur and feathers that she spent so long collecting. She wants her babies to leave the nest and learn to fly. She needs them to survive on their own and know how to take care of themselves when she is no longer around. In general, our parents do not slowly remove our home and force us out. Many expect us to go to college and many of us want to go, so it is not usually necessary to strip the home environment. However, our parents do slowly prepare us to be more independent and, like the curious eaglet, we want to see what is outside of the nest and experience it for ourselves.

The mother eagle nudges her offspring out of the nest and swoops down to catch them. Although a little alarmed, the eaglets soon realize they must learn to fly on their own. The eaglets will never learn to fly if their mother is always there to catch them. By living at home and attending college or living on campus at a college very close to home, we are stuck between falling out of the nest and returning to the nest. We can’t fly by ourselves. Attending a college or university in another state provides an opportunity to test our wings.

Learning to navigate on my own has been an enlightening ordeal. The first few days at Arizona State University often had me confused and asking for directions. The sizable and populous campus caused me to frantically search for my classes and simultaneously stress about arriving late. After the first couple weeks, along with the other new students, I could find my way without using a map and without asking for help. It might have been easier if I had someone to guide me, but part of growing up is learning how to guide ourselves. Although all new students, no matter how far from or close to home, were in the same position as I in trying to maneuver the unfamiliar campus, students from farther away face other difficulties, such as not being able to return home and grab a forgotten item. It takes time to adjust, but eventually circumstances become more comfortable and places more familiar.

Although attending an out-of-state college or one with considerable distance from home is not realistic for everyone, it is an advantageous opportunity to learn to live on your own and consequently learn about yourself. Often, expenses hold us back and we must gain our independence in another way. Many students in San Diego attend schools in southern California and many students in Arizona attend schools in Arizona. Some eighteen-year-olds do not want to handle such a transition. When cost isn’t a factor, experiencing a new place for fours years should be a top priority. College is an exceptional time for students to expand their experiences, but the added responsibility may be too much for some. I thought I was the last person who was going to leave southern California for college until I actually sat down to decide which college I was going to attend. Most of my choices were in-state, but I ultimately decided on Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University.

Leaving San Diego to go to school in Tempe was a tremendous change for me. Though only an hour by plane, Arizona is very different from where I grew up. The desert landscape, lack of beaches and ocean views, and dry heat have kept me adjusting. Like the baby eagles, I am not used to living here, outside of the nest, away from my parents. I have been forced to learn to fly on my own, not only literally by airplane, but in my new lifestyle.
Mixed emotions ran through me as I attempted to explain to the taxi driver how to get to the dorms. I was sad that I was going farther away from my home and confused because I barely knew where I was going. But I was also confident that I could navigate on my own without the help of my parents. I was empowered. Riding in that taxi, I realized I was a baby eagle. I needed to fly.