By Katherine Devaney and Shreya Prabhu, Greenwich High School
Amid the bustling ecosystem of a college campus and the flurry of social life that follows, incoming college students must be informed on how to stay safe in any threatening situations they may encounter.
On Wednesday, Greenwich High School senior Ava Jackson and sophomore Nora Stern, partnered with Greenwich Library on the second annual college safety panel, “Learn Before You Leave.”
The panel featured Ellen Brezovsky, Director of Outreach and Community Initiatives from Kids in Crisis, Gary MacNamara, from Sacred Heart University’s Department of Public Safety, Sarah Malhotra from the Rowan Center, and Colleen Sherry from Fordham EMS.
The impetus of this event, as Stern says, was “realizing how sexual assault is prevalent on college campuses” and how this “made [them] want to bring experts together who had knowledge on the most pressing issues young people face.”
The panelists covered a range of subjects about the most pressing safety issues on college campuses, namely sexual assault, substance abuse, and mental health struggles.
Malhotra stressed the significance of drug-facilitated sexual assault and the necessity for incoming college students to understand what consent truly means. Touching on mental health, Brezovsky mentioned that there will be stress anywhere, even if college is going well, so it’s important to develop coping skills.
These coping skills can be developed by finding a good support system of friends and trusted adults or figuring out how to calm yourself down in stressful situations.
Along the same lines, the panelists discussed the emotional turmoil many face when they set foot on campus. Often far away from a familiar environment, without parents or childhood friends, many may fall into the pressure of trying to fit in, loneliness, and anxiety. Maclemara touched on the social uncertainty
in college, saying that the shift from being a high school senior, where one is very comfortable in their life, to entering university, is akin to being essentially reborn.
To create a safety net and heighten one’s sense of security, the panelists recommended finding out whether a given university has silent witness or anonymous alerts and making sure to utilize all the Public Safety, Residential Life, and counseling resources available.
Also, remembering that it is okay to reach out and ask for help is crucial. Sherry stressed the importance of calling the EMS even with the slightest concern about someone’s well-being, as she has seen that it can save lives. Brezovsky also said she would recommend that students “don’t worry alone,” or, in other words, express their concerns and talk about it with others.
There were many important takeaways for the audience, and the wide range of fields that the respective panelists represented encompassed many different areas of the topic of college safety.
Jackson said, “I hope each person took away what risks one may face when heading off to a new environment and what they can do to address said risks.”