Mike Morefield columnist

Freshman year is like someone coming along with a pin right after high school, popping your bubble, picking you up, throwing you naked into college and leaving you to figure it out on your own.

I am not one to sugarcoat the freshman year experience because, being a freshman myself once,and working with freshman for two years as a resident assistant, I understand the hardships of surviving the first year of college.

What I can't understand is when I pick up the newest issue of U.S. News and World Report, and much to my surprise (read as embarrassment), my school is ranked 97th in public universities, in part because of our low freshman retention rate.

I have patience and sympathy for many things in life, but what I don't have patience for is sitting in a job interview and defending a school that barely scrapes the 100 mark because freshmen become apathetic and decide to walk out of an incredible experience, all of which has been handed to them on a silver platter.

As hard as it is for me to compliment the UA because of our past registration and administration blunders, one thing they have succeeded at is creating an environment of learning and comfort for freshmen.

From the exhaustive orientation to constant access to tutoring and UA activities, I have seen the UA do everything but hold freshmen's hands as they walk to class. The freshman retention rate (78 percent) is at such a low level, not because of the UA's lack of labor, but because of freshmen's lack of vested interests in their school and unwillingness to grasp the full experience that college has become.

The university has worked increasingly hard at building the school and students into a community, which breeds an atmosphere perfect for academia.

The UA to date has 173 clubs and organizations on campus that they support and fund, from a club that takes underprivileged children camping (Camp Wildcat) to a triathlon team (TriCats).

Our university has worked hard at providing diverse outlets for people from all walks of life and personalities, and it is a tragedy not to take advantage of them. The Student Recreation Center has activities on and off campus like rock climbing, scuba diving and most importantly, intramurals.

In addition, living on campus is a major part of the freshman experience and your first year of college. Of the 5,700 or so incoming freshmen, 85 percent live in the residence halls.

Resident assistants are constantly inundating incoming freshman with ways to come out of their shells. Whether it's a barbeque in a courtyard or an impromptu trip to No Anchovies, RAs work harder than anybody to help acclimate freshmen to their new surroundings.

As a freshman, you have a built-in friendship base in your residence hall of 100 to 800 people in the same situation, and you don't have to walk more than 20 feet to find 10 people to go with you to the Rec Center or dinner.

It befuddles me that droves of freshmen are walking off this campus before their second year, when they are literally handed a community and involvement opportunities without even having to work at it.

The retention rate problem needs to be fixed, and the buck stops at the freshmen. I can understand issues like "college isn't for me" or "I lost my scholarship," but those excuses cannot be allowed to claim the college careers of 1,200 freshmen a year. That staggering number can be visualized by the entire population of both Arizona-Sonora and Coronado residence halls walking off campus after one year.

You may feel as freshmen that you are being judged and ruled against based upon the actions of earlier students, so I speak to you as not the creators of the problem but as the solution the UA must rely upon.

You can single-handedly, as a class, pull this university out of its lowly spot, and raise it up to a much higher and well-deserved position. Hopefully by reading this you have been given the tools and have been empowered not to fall into the faceless leagues that have walked away from the UA, but to be promoted to the rank of sophomore, becoming a productive member of a community that you will carry with you.

Be proud to be a Wildcat, and stay here long enough to appreciate what that truly means.

Mike Morefield is a political science senior and an avid Wildcat. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.