A diamond cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials

Hey y'all. I thought I'd write you a profile story about a first year here at Rhodes, just to show you the type of stuff you might end up facing during your first few months at varsity. And just like the girl in my story, you can survive!

Shannon Kelly Fagan came to Rhodes on a high. It was going to be the most amazing year of her life: she’d been accepted into the university she’d dreamed of attending since grade 11, along with many of her closest friends from high school. She arrived in Grahamstown in a flourish of pink suitcases and great expectations. But just three months later, all the excitement she had felt while anticipating her stay at university and been replaced by the frightening, ever-popular question first years ask themselves: What am I doing here?

From her very first week at Rhodes, Shannon was sure that all the hopes she had for university would become reality. “O-week was amazing,” she recalls, curling up cross-legged in the middle of her bed, pulling a pastel pink pillow onto her lap shyly. “It was scary at first, but it turned out to be really fun. I learned that meeting new people and making friends wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.”

Shannon was focused and determined: she wanted to be a chartered accountant, and so was set on graduating from Rhodes with a Bcom accounting degree. She was happy, knew exactly what she wanted to do, and had a small circle of long-term friends who she grew even closer to. She became especially attached to another first year, Tessa Baleri, who had been a good friend during high school. But now, because they spent more time together and were taking many of the same subjects, the two became almost inseparable.

But before the end of the second term, Shannon’s ‘perfect’ university had lost its golden glow. Instead, this institution became a place she dreaded, which had turned her into a self-proclaimed “mess”. “I was so stressed about exams, tests and assignments,” she explains. “I missed home constantly and I didn’t feel like I was coping at all.” Accounting, her favourite subject in high school and the core subject of her chosen degree, turned out to be the class she dreaded the most. But another factor was about to add to Shannon’s feelings of hopelessness and uncertainty.

Shortly before her midyear exams commenced, Tessa dropped out of Rhodes.

Shannon reached breaking point. She shocked her friends with the news that she wouldn’t be returning for the university’s third term. “I just wanted to leave,” she says, her voice elevating slightly as she clutches her pillow. “I had lost my best friend. I was actually preparing to tell my parents that I was giving up. I wanted to go home.”

But speaking to her parents gave her a new perspective on the situation. She realised that she couldn’t give up so easily, and that she was strong enough to survive without Tessa. “I would have regretted it if I’d left,” Shannon explains, twisting her blonde hair around her finger as she remembers the worst part of her year. “You can’t expect yourself to be fully settled in just three months. You have to give yourself time to adjust.” She decided that because accounting was such a problematic subject for her, she should rather change her plans and study towards a standard Bcom degree. She went on to pass all of her exams, and even achieved a first class pass in management.

Four months later, Shannon has evolved into a more competent, mellow first year, who has learnt important lessons from the mistakes she made. “I learnt that I am more capable of being independent than I thought I was. I don’t get as stressed about work now. It’s not worth it.” Looking back, she finds it almost unbelievable that she was so close to dropping out. “I’ve changed so much since then,” she says, shaking her head in disbelief. “I grew up a lot. This is not high school anymore. Rhodes has really opened my mind and taught me to embrace new ideas.”

Shannon Fagan is proof that adversity can often refine a person and produce a stronger character. She smiles and explains: “University won’t kill you. But, if you let it, it will make you stronger.”

* Meat_is_murder*