Student Blog: Going Back to School in a New Way

Time management. Independence. Dorm rooms. Dining hall food. New people. Bigger workload. All of these are experiences that I have had to go through during the first month of going back to school. 

For context, I graduated high school back in June of 2025, and now I am a Freshman at Wagner College on Staten Island for Theatre: Design, Technology, and Management. Going back to school was a lot different for me this year, because instead of waking up early, driving to school, getting through the school day, attending my after-school activities, and then driving home at night, I now live at school. That means no more driving to and from school every day (which isn’t such a bad thing in my opinion), no more home-cooked meals every night, and no more going home to my bed at night. 

Like most college freshmen, the first few weeks of school were rough. Trying to make new friends while also maintaining my friendships back home was a lot to balance with the college workload and adjusting to my new life. But, like most college freshmen, we work through it and find our way. 

One way that I found my way was by finding the joy in the classes that I am currently taking. This semester, I am taking four classes total, which at first I thought was too few, but once the workload started to pick up, I realized that this was perfect for me! I am taking Intro to Management and the Arts, which, to sum it up, is a class that teaches us about how to run an arts business in the real world. With that class, we also had a couple of mandatory city trips that we had to go on, which allowed us to explore NYC more on our own, while also being able to enjoy the trips we got to go on. We got to see John Proctor Is The Villain on Broadway just before it closed, and we got to go to the American Museum of Natural History (which is the museum from the Night At The Museum movies), and we got to go to a couple of other really cool places, but those were the highlights for me! Attending school right next to the city and now learning how to navigate the city is something that will benefit me not only for the next four years, but for the rest of my life.

I’m also taking two classes right now that are for my major, which is something that most freshmen in college don’t get to do, but I was lucky enough to have the opportunity! Those classes are Intro to Design and Technology, and Drafting For The Stage. In these classes, my creativity is challenged in ways that help me to grow and improve. We get to design costumes, work on scenic designs, and we even had an assignment where we had to make our dorm rooms on an online program! It is a challenging process, but when I finish projects, it feels very rewarding. 

The fourth class I am taking is called Music Cultures of the World. In high school, I was heavily involved in our music programs, so this class allows my music brain to work, which is nice. We learn about the history of music and how it has grown over the years, and it is a very interesting class. 

Along with all of my classes, I have also gotten the opportunity to assistant stage manage a student-run show at Wagner, and I will be a stagehand in one of the upcoming Wagner College Theatre mainstage shows, which is super exciting. I am so glad that I can get back into the swing of theatre at Wagner right away.

I am so excited to continue to write more about my journey at Wagner, and I am so excited to share my love of theatre with the world! This is student blogger Ryan Eitel signing off