This summer, my two biggest worries about starting college were that I would flunk out within the first few weeks and that I wouldn’t have any friends. Thanks partly to Pomona’s sponsor group program for freshmen, neither one has taken place.

The first person I got to know on campus was one of my sponsors, Robin. She walked sleepily into my room, disheveled and yawning (like most Pomona students), introduced herself, and, leaning against the door frame, launched into a long story about being woken up at four a.m. the previous morning for sponsor training. I expected her to be leaving any time, but instead, she stayed and helped me unpack for a while. Her comfortable, warm attitude reflected the atmosphere of the rest of my sponsor group.

In my four short weeks here, I’ve met many people, but most of the students I would consider "friends" are in my sponsor group, for the simple reason that we spend so much time together. We follow our sponsors to pre-parties, we ask each other for help with homework assignments, we eat 80 percent of our meals together, we take classes together, and we stay up all night discussing relationships, life, and sports.

The sponsor group program is part of the package deal that Pomona offers to incoming freshmen. Paying your tuition means you not only get a top-notch education, you also get an individual serving of friends. The Princeton Review’s statement that, sSponsor groups are similar to fraternities and sororities" (www.review.com) seems a bit of a stretch, but the analogy works in the sense that sponsor groups are core to freshmen social lives and the basis of freshmen emotional support. Even the shyest freshman is forced to build friendships with the members of his or her sponsor group.

"Your sponsor group is your life for freshman year," said Herbert Huang ’02, when I first confided in him how much I was enjoying orientation. "I still hang out with mine." The friendships formed in the hallways of our dorms are arguably longer lasting than the ones formed in the classroom because members of a sponsor group live together and are integral parts of each other’s lives.

I am unable to leave for class in the morning without at least one person from my sponsor group greeting me or wishing me nice day. I can’t do my homework without members of my sponsor group popping their heads in to tell me a joke or give me some advice or encouragement. In my first brief month at Pomona, the members of my sponsor group have been a source for support, comfort, guidance, and companionship.

"While sponsor groups are the source of as little or as much of a student’s social life as she or he desires, they provide an essential link to the student body for students new to the community," according to Pomona College’s website. Being in a sponsor group in no way limits us from forming outside friendships.

Programs from the AARC, CLSA, OBSA, QRC, Women’s Union, and so on are all available to freshmen and other students to find friendship in those of similar backgrounds or with similar interests. The sponsor group is simply a safety net for freshmen to fall back on, in case they are too shy (or just too lazy) to go out and form friendships on their own.

The most memorable parts of college for many people are the times they spent with their friends. Pomona’s sponsor group program is a way of guaranteeing that every student will have that kind of memory to look back upon.