Originally from Russia, Anastasia is a fourth year Nutrition major at Cal Poly. She has been a Resident Advisor for the past two years and is an active member of the yoga community on campus. Anastasia is heading to Florida for grad school in the fall of 2020.
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Reflection
What stands out from Anastasia’s story are the struggles she faced without her family -- moving into Cal Poly her freshman year with no one to help her and experiencing a medical emergency without being able to immediately call her parents for advice due to the time difference. Lawson (2018) describes feeling at home as “a sense of reliability and familiarity” (p. 413). In her moments of struggle, she had no one to rely on in unfamiliar settings, hardly setting up Cal Poly to feel like home at first.
Yet Anastasia says that over the past four years at Cal Poly she has grown to love it here. Why? She attributes that to joining different groups who care about her, such as the International Club, the yoga community, and in her work as a Residential Advisor. Her involvement in these groups has helped her “to feel like [she’s] part of something bigger.” Essentially, she feels a sense of belonging, one of Lawson’s key components in feeling at home (2018).
Anastasia informed me that sharing her story has played a large role helping her to feel at home at Cal Poly, particularly because vulnerability about her struggles as an international student and Residential Advisor has created bonds with people in those communities who have similar experiences. Additionally, she has found belonging in Cal Poly’s yoga community where she teaches yoga. Andenoro et al. (2012) write, “One of the most important functions of narrative is to situate particular events against a larger horizon of what people consider to be human passions, virtues, philosophies, actions, and relationships” (p. 106). In each of these three communities, Anastasia has opened up herself to share in ways that create connections with others through shared passions, activities, and identities.
Though she laments the lack of a Russian community, Anastasia has been able to find a home at Cal Poly in the many other communities she belongs to on campus.
Yet Anastasia says that over the past four years at Cal Poly she has grown to love it here. Why? She attributes that to joining different groups who care about her, such as the International Club, the yoga community, and in her work as a Residential Advisor. Her involvement in these groups has helped her “to feel like [she’s] part of something bigger.” Essentially, she feels a sense of belonging, one of Lawson’s key components in feeling at home (2018).
Anastasia informed me that sharing her story has played a large role helping her to feel at home at Cal Poly, particularly because vulnerability about her struggles as an international student and Residential Advisor has created bonds with people in those communities who have similar experiences. Additionally, she has found belonging in Cal Poly’s yoga community where she teaches yoga. Andenoro et al. (2012) write, “One of the most important functions of narrative is to situate particular events against a larger horizon of what people consider to be human passions, virtues, philosophies, actions, and relationships” (p. 106). In each of these three communities, Anastasia has opened up herself to share in ways that create connections with others through shared passions, activities, and identities.
Though she laments the lack of a Russian community, Anastasia has been able to find a home at Cal Poly in the many other communities she belongs to on campus.