Through interviews at the beginning and end of the fall semester, four first-year students reflect on on their growth over their first semester of college.

For the past weeks, I had operated under the impression that my friends at school recognized and understood the reality of my struggles and had, after careful consideration, made conscious decisions to ignore it.

For the last issue of the semester (and possibly of all time. Fingers crossed), it seems vaguely appropriate to offer a few retrospective thoughts and weigh whether or not we’ve made progress as a campus over the semester. Full disclosure: I didn’t come to a conclusion, but here are a few of the highlights from the highly scientific process of evaluation.