What’s Adventurous, Goofy, Awkward, and Tough? Millennial Influx Writer: Jordan Tuin

The wind is fierce, tearing at her hair and rushing against her skin. The door is open. There is nothing but sky in any direction. Her family is behind her. She looks back out the door of the airplane, at 15,000 feet of air between her and the ground. She is scared. Why am I going first? She won’t do it. I can’t. She turns her eyes back into the cabin of the plane, and they meet with those of her older brother. His eyes were wide, and wild with excitement. His mouth screamed, “Let’s go!” but his words were lost in the wind. Jordan turned her eyes forward. The excitement in her stomach started to bubble over the fear that had been churning there before. I just have to do it. With a deep breath, she steps out of the airplane.

Jordan Tuin was born third in her family after two older brothers, and spent her childhood adventuring and roughhousing. She shot archery, played with legos, fought with toy swords, became a jedi as well as all other manner of heroes, but Mom made sure she was a princess sometimes too. She loves her parents, and expresses her mother’s goofy, fun, energy, as well as her father’s more thoughtful and reflective character. Another thing Jordan received from her father is her loving of running. Jordan is a runner. With a mile time approaching under five minutes, Jordan was just short of qualifying as an all american runner last year. Her dad was her coach, and as she grew up she ran track and cross country for her school, as well as played basketball. High School was a diverse experience for Jordan. It seemed like the the wealthiest and poorest students were all mixed together in an absolute melting pot. Today she is a senior at Wheaton College studying
marketing communications. She has an easygoing presence, and is always wearing at least a hint of a smile. She loves puppies, kittens, chocolates. She hates birds, and shoots squirrels on sight. She feels that she can be awkward a lot, but it doesn’t seem to bother her. Jordan is a kind, friendly, high-energy, and outrageously goofy person to be around, who also has a pensive and reflective side. The thing that is not as apparent about Jordan at the first glance is that she is determined, adventurous, and fiercely strong. She pushes herself to be great, which Jordan would phrase as “trying not to suck”. Don’t be fooled. Competition fuels her fire. It has since the backyard of her childhood home, playing with her big brothers.

The air howls around her as she flies home to earth. the great big curve of the world below comes into focus. Jordan is in freefall for what feels like an eternity, but what in reality is only about sixty seconds. Surrounded by the crystal blue of the sky and the cotton white clouds she soars home. From up here, the world is as wide and open as her future.

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.