Belhaven student Samuel Oh was once awarded for saving a man’s life.
Samuel Oh is a junior biblical studies and intercultural studies major at Belhaven University. Many around campus know him because of his involvement in Fellowship of Christian Athletes on campus and the Resident Assistant program. Only a few know about the heroic act that defined his teenage years.
The journey to learn Samuel or better known as Sam Oh’s story began with a Facebook post on April 11th asking for crazy or unusual stories students from Belhaven had that they would like to share for a news story. Numerous replies came in ranging from an unusual job experience to swimming with sharks. However, near the end of the search for a story, Samuel Oh shared a portion of his story. “I got an award from the government of Guam for saving someone’s life.”
It begins with a short walk down Belhaven’s memory lane.
Footstones of the impactful educators that hundreds tread upon everyday greet those seeking knowledge. The lane of trees sway in the wind as a crisp chill occasionally bites the air. Preston and Fitzhugh stand in the distance as twin pantheons for the artistic and the academic minded.
On April tenth, students from Belhaven University will showcase videos they directed, filmed, and starred in at the annual Welbertson Film Festival. The festival is hosted by Wells and Robertson, the two male dormitories on campus. In the past, Welbertson has featured short dramatic pieces, parodies, music videos, the occasional horror film, and of course, lots of Belhaven-based comedy. Every year there are new ideas being formulated by a number of talented young writers and directors, all fighting for the honor of winning a Welby.
This year, a new group of directors, writers, and actors is trying its hand to stand out in this honored festival. John McElroy (19, sophomore), Christopher Miller (20, sophomore), Jessica Wiggins (19, sophomore), and Andrew Reid (22, senior) are working on a piece unlike anything the festival has ever seen before. “We’re calling it Angels Take Belhaven as a nod to the eleventh doctor’s era,” said director John McElroy.
Jackson
Mississippi is the home of the first successful lung transplant, a petrified forest,
and coffee houses! The city holds many locally owned coffee houses, all with
unique flavors and atmosphere. Some of the local favorites include: Cups
Espresso Café, Sneaky Beans, The Urban Sip, The Shoe Bird, and new-comer,
Coffee Prose. Sure, there are a few Starbucks’ and Dunkin Donuts’ scattered
around the city, but locals prefer the small-town shops to the chain stores
because they are more welcoming and offer a greater variety.
Places like Cups Espresso Café offer a variety of coffees in numerous flavors—including their specialty, the blonde. The blonde flavoring is a mix of white chocolate and caramel, able to be mixed into any coffee drink of one’s choosing. Started in 1993, Cups, though local to the state of Mississippi, now has ten locations all serving up hot or cold cups of joe.
“It depends,” says
Belhaven University guidance counselor, Christa Williams. “What are you
sheltering them from?”.
It’s no secret that colleges and universities bring people of many different backgrounds together. Some people come into college ready to continue an already started road to independence. However, for many, college is a young adult’s first experience with freedom. With these new freedoms, some students can struggle with mental health (depression, anxiety etc.,) and temptations to gravitate towards what might be considered to be bad things (excessive drinking, drugs, etc.). Bestcolleges.com reports that 1 in 4 college age students struggle with a mental illness brought about by their transition to college. How many of these mentally unstable students are previously-sheltered young adults?
Research is being done on Belhaven University’s Jackson campus to determine the overall positive or damaging effects being raised sheltered has on a college student. Belhaven’s very own Christa Williams explained that the answer is not going to be easy to find, because sheltering comes in many forms and different extremes. Williams says she as a counselor has seen young adults from all backgrounds struggle in college. Everyone can have mental struggles.
An online survey asked current college students to explain ways they’ve seen sheltering affect their sheltered peers. One response from an anonymous source wrote, “They have a hard time adapting to the new environment and quickly get overwhelmed. They also have a hard time breaking ties with family.” Responders to the survey were asked to grade how much more they believed a sheltered young adult would struggle in college than a person who was not sheltered the response average was 73 percent, meaning people taking the survey, most not considering themselves sheltered, believed that sheltered young adults were 73 percent more likely to struggle with their new-found freedom in college. The results from the survey indicate that there is an overall concern about sheltered young adults.
Rebekah Veldhorst, 20, sat down in an interview to discuss why many assume sheltered students struggle more than others. “I think it’s just because there’s a lot of stuff they didn’t know very much, and when they get to college, they’re away from their families so there’s a lot of influx of new information. Just they, they don’t know what to do with that, so, just people assume they go wild.” Veldhorst, a sophomore at Belhaven says she has seen sheltered students befriend “bad influences” but does not personally know someone who lost control of themselves due to sheltering.
Ashley Farris, 21, a junior, gave a strong “No” when asked if she was sheltered growing up. Farris believes the idea that sheltered young adults do struggle more when transitioning into college. “I think if you’re not prepared for the world, you don’t know what to expect from the world. You’re not going to be successful immediately. I think you’re gonna have to have a lot more time to adjust than someone who wasn’t sheltered.”
Between the interviews and survey, it appears that a sheltered young adult is at a higher risk of getting into trouble in college than a person who was not sheltered. A very strict home can produce a nervous, unprepared for the world young adult. Would you agree?
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