The Mainers sport shorts in January. The Floridians whine that 50 degrees is arctic weather. And then there’s that kid from California who everyone calls “Sunshine.”
These are the students who crash on your couch every fall break. And Thanksgiving break. And Easter break. These are the ones responsible for the bandwidth shortage because they use Skype so much. These are the kids who hang around on campus every weekend because for them, going home means traveling ten or more hours.
They’re out-of-state students. What the heck are they doing in no-name Huntington?
Well, they’re certainly not surfing. The weather was 79 degrees and sunny one weekend in early April in Huntington Beach, Calif., home to HU senior film production major Daniel “Sunshine” Evans.
That’s right. Sunshine is from L.A., where Hollywood is at his front door, and yet he travels over 2,000 miles every year to study film in Huntington (no beach), Ind.
“I get that all the time,” Sunshine chuckles, his voice still raspy from the work he did on-set over the weekend. “Every single person says that: ‘Why are you out here to do film?’”
Sunshine found HU through his younger brother, who was searching for schools with digital media arts programs.
“It’s got to be a God-thing,” Sunshine said. “There’s no way I would have ever found out about this tiny school in Indiana. It just doesn’t make any sense. But here I am, making quality films that seniors aren’t making out in L.A. I have so many more opportunities here.”
Jessi Emmert, a junior journalism and history double major from Tallahassee, Fla., discovered HU in a similar way. She was applying to colleges to appease her mother, who was urging her to go to a Christian institution, when she came across HU.
“I googled ‘Christian college’ and HU was the third result,” Emmert recalled. “I clicked on it, and it was really late, so I applied on a whim. I wanted to go to a state school.”
She reconsidered after receiving humorous admissions letters from HU.
“They sent me a rubber band ‘cause they knew I would be getting all sorts of college stuff and I would need a rubber band to hold it all together,” Emmert said. “I thought ‘At least these people have a sense of humor!’”
Senior social work major Katie Fager was drawn from her Houston, Texas, home to HU because of her older brother, a DMA student at HU.
“There was also a sense of peace about it,” she said.
Andy Vaught, an admissions counselor, travels to college fairs and conventions along the east coast to introduce students to HU.
“I think the real draw is the family connection,” Vaught said. “Siblings who have come here give their feedback on the school, and tell them, ‘This is why I love it here.’ And that familiar connection speaks more than anything I could say.”
Almost 8 percent of this year’s freshman class came from outside the Midwest, says Vaught, and in 2009 nearly 20 percent of students on campus were from states outside the Midwest. The HU campus that year featured students from 34 different states.
Living so far from home creates challenges. Emmert admits to feeling homesick at times.
“It’s okay when it’s a planned break like fall break,” Emmert said. “But it’s hard to watch people go home on the weekends and think, ‘I can’t do that.’ Then again, I chose it.”
Sunshine only goes home for summer break and Christmas. He keeps up with his family through Facebook and email so he doesn’t get too homesick.
“When I’m in California, then I get homesick for here,” he said.
Fager struggled with culture shock and adjusting to life at HU.
“I obviously come from a very different place,” Fager said. “So coming up here I did have a bit of culture shock … there are very few African-Americans, very few Hispanics, really not a whole lot of people of color, which was shocking to me. At home I was the only white person on my block except for an older woman.”
The cost of travel also takes a toll on the out-of-state students.
Fager and her brothers drive an Expedition, fondly named “Bertha.” Last year, they figured it cost them around $500 in gas to cover the 1,100 mile trip (which they say takes over 24 red-eyed hours to complete).
According to Consumer Reports, the average price per gallon in May, 2010 was $2.79. In May, 2011 the national average has risen to $3.84, costing them even more at the pump.
“It’s still cheaper than paying for a plane ticket and all of my luggage,” Fager said.
Sunshine usually flies to California, and Emmert once made the 17-hour drive to Florida alone.
“Never doing that again,” Emmert said, rolling her eyes. “Somewhere around hour 10 my brain turned to mush.”
At the end of the interview, Emmert leaned back in her seat, a soft smile on her face as she pondered whether trekking across the states for HU was worth it.
“Yes, it’s worth it,” she said. “In fact, I’ve never regretted the decision. Not for a second.”
stephmorin 