It is the same campus but with new people. It is reused pens and old, half-scribbled notebooks. It is a stack of textbooks that may or may not get read. It is the adventure that has not yet unfolded; the late nights that will surely pile up like fried food stacked onto Reisner plates. It is the final exam; it is the final year for many; it is the final first college semester for others. But mostly — it is the beginning of a fall semester at Shippensburg University, one that will be unlike any other simply because no two could ever be the same.

For freshman Ryan Nych, and probably many others, this semester is a vital transition that will lead to new friends, a broader social life and a jump-start to a future career.

Nych prepared for Monday classes on Saturday by walking through his schedule to help ease his anxiety. However, since he had previously attended a community college for about a semester, it is not really the class load that has Nych nervous, but simply trying to make friends, he said.

In high school, Nych said that he struggled socially, but now that he is in college, things will be different.

“It’s a clean slate,” Nych said.

His high school identity has been forgotten, so this is his time to start over as anyone he wants to be.

The events and programs at SU have been a great way to help him socialize, Nych said. So far he has made a few friends and is looking forward to additional opportunities to make more.

“I just want to really further myself and my career path and hopefully find life-long friends,” Nych said.

Another freshman, Richard Perez, also sees college as a new beginning, but for him he said that it feels like the accomplishments and status that he earned as a senior in high school have been wiped away — now he is back at the bottom with a lot of work to do to get back to the top.

In high school, he knew everyone, was very involved, helped teachers and the principal and had a great group of friends who thought he was cool, Perez said. Now, he is a freshman again, which is where he started four years ago.

“I have to keep even 50-50 if I want equal academic and equal college life. This time management is a big thing,” Perez said.

Junior Lizzie Manickas, a chemistry major with a biology-chemistry concentration as well as a cross-country and track-and-field athlete — knows a little bit about time management.

“I’m just trying to balance bio-chemistry, cell bio, physics chemistry I and cross [country]. And I want to make sure I can do the best at all of that because I’m a little bit of a perfectionist. I’m just worried about trying to balance it all,” Manickas said.

Even when Manickas is trying to relax, she said that it is difficult to completely unwind, but usually listening to music or hanging out with friends helps. Despite the workload, her major classes and her cross country season are what she is looking forward to most this semester, she said.

Senior Samantha Balaguer is not too worried about her class load after four years of practice. She will be bee-bopping to Zumba beats as she shimmies her hips with drumming feet.

The Zumba classes, which are offered at the Rec Center, are one of things she is most looking forward to this fall semester.

“They are lots of fun. Really sweaty though,” Balaguer said.

Other than that, her main goal for the semester is to get more than 30 members to join the political science club. And although she will be graduating in May, that reality has not quite set in yet.

“I’m just trying to get through this one semester at a time,” Balaguer said.

This upcoming semester may not hold as many unforeseen treasures for Balaguer as it does for novice freshmen clutching their scribbled schedules, and it may not be as stressful as it is for students armpit-deep in their major classes — but it is the beginning of an end, and that in itself is sweeter than a soft mango stuck between teeth.

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