Sophie Nelson — University of Kansas
What stuffed animal are you bringing with you?
“My weighted dinosaur-dragon with gold wings. He doesn’t have a name, though.”
How do you think your stuffed animal will help you adjust to college life?
“It’s going to be a familiar piece of home that’ll be in my dorm room with me, so I feel like I’ll always be able to look at it and be like, ‘Oh, it’s a piece of home.’ Maybe I won’t get so homesick.”
If your stuffed animal could talk, what advice would it give you about college?
“He would just tell me it’ll be OK and that there’s going to be so much to do and explore.
He’d be very encouraging about going to college.”
Abby Reeves — University of Vermont
What stuffed animals are you bringing with you?
“I’m definitely bringing this one little giraffe that I named Giraffey when I was a baby, and he’s slept with me every night since. Last year when my friends left for college, we got matching JellyCats. I’ll bring my sun JellyCat named Ray that is matching with Tamar, and then with my other friend, Maggie, we have matching octopuses which I named Octavia, so those are the three I’m definitely bringing with me.”
How do you think your stuffed animals will help you adjust to college life?
“Because I’m going so far away, it’ll be a piece of home. I can’t decorate my dorm room the exact way my room at home is decorated, and I’ll be having so many new experiences that I think those stuffed animals in my dorm room will be one small thing that feels familiar and comforting. I’m trying to look at it as instead of ‘I’m leaving home,’ but ‘I’m creating a new home in Vermont.’”
If your stuffed animals could talk, what advice would they give you about college?
“Giraffey would definitely tell me to put myself out there, try new things and experience everything there is to experience. Ray and Octavia would give the same advice Tamar and Maggie would give me and the confidence I need to go try new things.”
Zaida Awan — University of Kansas
What stuffed animals are you bringing with you?
“I’m bringing a teal alpaca Squishmallow and a JellyCat teddy bear. My alpaca is named Tim, and the teddy bear is Bartholomew, but I call him Bart.”
How do you think your stuffed animals will help you adjust to college life?
“Tim has been with me since fifth grade and took me through moving houses. He’ll be a sense of comfort for me moving to college because he’s a bit of consistency through my life. My mom gave me Bart, so he’ll remind me of home.”
If your stuffed animals could talk, what advice would they give you about college?
“They’d remind me I’ve been through so many new things. I can get through anything as long as I’m not alone.”
