A year ago, Davion Washington arrived at Howard University with questions. She was only beginning to understand where to go, what to expect and how to find her place on campus. Now, as she prepares to return to The Yard, the now honors sophomore has found herself on the other side of those questions.
“When I was coming up as a freshman, it was me who had those questions, and now I have the answers. I’m realizing, dang,” said Washington, a criminology major from Richmond, Virginia. “I’m not a freshman anymore.”
Now, just one year later, Washington is joining a class of students already joking that they suddenly feel “old.” The firsts that once defined their introduction to Howard have become familiar, leaving them to navigate what comes after freshman year.
As a Humanities and Social Sciences Program scholar, Washington spent her freshman year living in Axis Hall, balancing honors courses and research opportunities while learning how much freedom and responsibility came with college life. Looking back, she said one of the biggest lessons freshman year taught her was embracing change.
“You have to adopt a new mindset and have a certain level of maturity to know that it’s not gonna be as easy,” Washington said. “You might want to miss that class, or you might want to skip out on that assignment, and there’s new decisions that you have to start making that define who you are.”
For Alexsis Barkus, a now honors sophomore criminology major, the freshman-year blur faded after an empowering study abroad experience in Uganda during her second semester.
“My study abroad experience was so empowering and I gained so much knowledge,” Barkus said. “I no longer felt like a nobody freshman who knew nothing. I could now teach others about what I witnessed and learned.”
As a first-generation college student, she entered Howard without a clear blueprint for what college would look like or what she was supposed to expect. Learning to navigate the academic and social demands of a university on her own made that first year difficult.
While it took Barkus time to adjust to life at Howard, she’s excited to enter her next season as a Bison.
“Freshman year quickly became very isolating and took a toll on my mental health. This year I am excited to work hard and have an amazing time,” she said.
Like Barkus, Oluwatosin Deborah Bada, a now honors sophomore political science major from Atlanta, Georgia, said becoming a sophomore didn’t fully register until administrative tasks felt like a milestone in her Howard experience.
“I think once I finally cleared my balance and registered for classes, I realized, ‘Wow, I’m actually about to start my next semester…,’ I started to really feel like I’m older now, but it was exciting,” Bada said.
For the first time, Bada was making her way back to Howard knowing the first weeks of the semester would no longer be spent figuring out how everything worked. Instead, she had three more years ahead of her to find her place, build her community and discover what she wanted her time at Howard to mean.
“There were times where I felt like all my peers knew what they were doing and I had no idea what I wanted to do but I had to understand that my path is different and not to rush,” Bada said. “I’m excited to put myself out there now that I know what I’m interested in on campus.”
Grace Salami also spent much of her freshman year figuring things out as she went. A year later, the second-year business student found herself on the other side of the questions.
“Admitted students were asking questions about Howard, and I was one of the students answering them. It was a full-circle moment because just a few months earlier, I had been sitting in those same chairs, imagining my own life at Howard,” Salami said.
As she prepares for another year on campus, Salami hopes to continue building her network, growing her henna business and strengthening her academic standing. Still, it’s the first-year memories she’ll cherish most.
“There’s something really special about growing alongside people who are experiencing the same chapter of life as you, and you only get those firsts once,” she said.
Copy edited by Jori Johnson