In the time leading up to the end of the spring semester, campus is crawling with people. Students, faculty, prospective students and family flood all areas on Winona State University. From parking lots to the dining hall, life seems to get infinitely more crowded during these early registration events. These early registration events are important to both Winona State and incoming freshman; however, that doesn’t mean that it does not create bumps in the road on campus for current students.
One of the immediate things that comes to mind as a current student on early registration days is the feeling of being watched. Sitting in Kryzsko commons seems to put you on display for all of the incoming freshman to watch as they walk past.
Lucy Severson, a fourth year film student at Winona State University has found that while there aren’t many issues that arise with these registration days, there is a feeling that tends to pop up.
“Sometimes I feel like an animal in a zoo. I’ll be walking through Kryzsko and suddenly I’m face-to-face with a herd of freshman,” Severson said. “I get it, it was always interesting for me to see what campus was like before I was in college myself but I always feel like I’m being watched.”
Parking is another bump that causes trouble for current students. First, students who pay 245 dollars for their gold lot parking pass are not allowed to park in certain spots on campus. This may seem like a small inconvenience but it is one that infringes on money that current student have spent.
On top of parking lots being closed for students, they are also sure to receive more than one notice about gold lot closures to make room for incoming freshman and their families. Winona State students already get plenty of emails and the students who need to know are likely to read the first email. Sending continuous emails regarding the same information is an unnecessary nuisance to students, especially when a substantial amount don’t have gold parking lot passes in the first place.
However, as inconvenient early registration events may be for current students, most still recognize the importance of these events. Letting students come and see where they will spend the next four years, or more, of their young adult lives is an important part of the process of coming to college. Along with being able to meet an advisor and begin picking classes, it really allows students to feel that they are truly starting the next path of their lives. This is a pivotal point that makes any inconvenience become a necessity to deal with, especially because the inconveniences caused to current students are not the fault of the incoming freshman.
The inconveniences that arise do spark the question in current students’ minds of “is this being run as effectively as possible?” There are almost always ways to improve the experience of current students and a simple starting point could be in the hiccups caused by early registration. Some of the issues that come up on early registration days are unavoidable—being watched comes with the job of being a student in a public place—however this doesn’t change the discomfort that early registration days puts onto current students.
