For most first-year traditional students, whether from as far away as Japan or as nearby as Greensboro, coming to Guilford College is both delightful and intimidating. The pressures of a new curriculum and social lives present challenges and new opportunities.

Students arrive with their own stories, seeking new experiences that will guide their futures. Some fit right into college life, while others need time to adjust. Each student anticipates a unique continuation of their personal story, and at Guilford, their stories become their own.

“I was really excited,” first-year Nicole Barnard said. “I guess I missed home sometimes, but it’s great to be here.”

Like many first-years, she said she didn’t fit in right away.

Barnard, from Westchester, N.Y., said she wants to explore the “different clubs, meet new people, and do different activities.”

She is undecided on her major, but she said she likes to write and is excited to take English 102.

“Guilford is a good place to start,” Barnard said. “Education is like a job.”

First-year Jose Oliva from Jutiapa, Guatemala, has been in Greensboro for over two years. When he first arrived, he attended Guilford County’s Newcomers School. He speaks Spanish, English, some French and some Portuguese.

“I feel very excited to be here,” Oliva said. “I cannot wait to meet everybody on campus . . . The campus is beautiful and everybody’s friendly.”

Oliva said he wants to major in political science and hopes to gain knowledge and experience before graduating from Guilford.

“Every professor is different in the way they teach, they act and what they believe, and that makes Guilford unique,” Oliva said. “Guilford believes in the success that students can achieve, as well, Guilford helps to achieve that success.”

First-year Hvung Ksor from Vietnam, who has lived in Greensboro for seven years, said she hopes to gain knowledge and confidence by being at Guilford. She is interested in geography, but is undecided on her major.

“Guilford is a diverse college with a lot of international students,” Ksor said. “Guilford College is a good school … A lot of support from professors and friends.”

Ksor said she feels discouraged because her advisor is only having her take 14 credits, but she expects great things to happen. Her First Year Experience class took her by surprise, and now she has settled in and is happy. Guilford is helping her to succeed, she said.

Bill McCarver ‘01 remembers his first day at Guilford vividly, having driven from Alabama in April to enroll for the 1997 fall semester. He said he immediately felt welcomed and appreciated.

“I liked everybody I met and it seemed to me everyone liked me,” McCarver said.

He said he found Guilford comfortable and, after he arrived in fall 1997, felt so at home that soon Alabama was a memory. His advisor of four years, Dana Professor of English Jeff Jeske, once told him, “Guilford College widened its circle to include you.”

“It did,” said McCarver, now a lecturer in Guilford’s Adult Transitions program and a professional writing tutor in the Learning Commons.

No matter where they come from or how they start, students often find Guilford is the place where they can live life to the fullest and is somewhere they can call home.

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