By: Bryan Gudka

Millions of college kids every year decide to leave one college and enroll in another. There is a variety of reasons, to get closer to home, didn’t like the previous school, or in some cases to further their educational journey. As you look around Saint Mary, we are a community filled with transfer students Most of them being JUCO transfers. A JUCO transfer is a person who previously went to a two-year school so to further their education they must transfer to a 4-year institution. Tommy Quinn a JUCO transfer student said, “deciding to transfer to USM was the best decision of my life, I can now count on my friends as if they were family.”

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Pictured above are two different transfer students. Zach Romano and Oliver Pate, both have taken different paths to get to USM. Zach is a JUCO transfer while Oliver transferred from a division 2 school in Oklahoma.

This is the majority of transfers but not all transfer students. I myself am part of that other part of transfer students. Coming to Saint Mary was a breath of fresh air. It first off brought me a little closer to home and secondly, it just is finally a place that feels like a home away from home. This is what every kid wants in their college experience. A place they can feel proud to attend and a sensation of home, while at the end of the day there are millions of transfer students across the country every year. Most move on to places like USM. A place where they can call home for the rest of their academic careers.

Byran Gudka is a junior at the University of Saint Mary and is studying Digital Communications and Sports Management.