CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Celestina Encinia is comfortable with the idea of starting her freshman year of college later this month at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
The 18-year-old Sinton High School graduate knows where she will live and soon will know her class schedule and necessary textbooks to buy, but that’s not what puts her at ease.
It’s that she’s already connected with her peers, without meeting them.
That comfort makes the thought of college less intimidating.
Encinia found four classmates on the image-sharing site Instagram weeks before she set foot on campus for last week’s new student orientation.
“I’m here to make friends and (meet) people I will know for a long time, and just being one step closer helps,” she told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
Across the country there are incoming college freshmen who use social media sites such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to connect with each other by sharing their thoughts, fears, questions and photos about college life.
