Last year was a very memorable one for the first graduating senior class of Vandegrift High School. They were responsible for creating the tradition and prestige at VHS today. Now those students are attending different colleges and across the nation. The graduates are bringing their own ideas to these universities as they take their educations to the next level.

“College is everything that I could have imagined,” University of Arkansas freshman Madeline Castleman said. “Having new friends and being independent is such a great feeling. I am a Kappa [Kappa Gamma] and I couldn’t ask for a better pledge class. I know that I have already made lifetime friends.”

Castleman is creating new memories that will last a lifetime in college. Being a Kappa pledge she and the other 156 girls are a part of different kinds of functions and activities with other sororities and fraternities. As a fashion major, she is always committed to her school work. Her favorite class focuses on the influential eras in fashion.

Collin Stobart is a freshman at Texas A&M University.

“The classes are definitely tougher than I’m used to,” Stobart said.

Stobart said the classes in college a much more rigorous than they are in high school. In college, it is the student’s responsibility to keep up with the learning material and homework, the professors will not be keeping up with each student’s individual grade.

James Gonzales, a freshman at Abilene Christian University, is also playing football for the wildcats.

“College athletics is not for the weary kind,” Gonzales said. “You’re not going to be the big guy on campus anymore like you were in high school. There are people bigger and better than you are, and you are going to have to earn their respect whether you like it or not.”

Gonzales said that starting over in college is a much more difficult process than it was in high school for him. He also said that even though college football is absolutely a very strenuous sport, every moment of hard work is worth it.

“I guess the one piece of advice I want to give to those who are dwelling about the college athlete lifestyle is no matter how difficult it gets, no matter how intense it may seem, there will be a greater and brighter side to the story that you are creating,” Gonzales said.