2008 Woodie Awards
Does Distance Make the Heart Grow Fonder?
Alyssa Carroll
Issue date: 4/9/08 Section: Focus
As summer quickly approaches, many couples on campus are about to be faced with a new reality: the long-distance relationship. These three words are feared by couples soon to be separated by hundreds of miles.
Adding the term long distance to a relationship is a frightening thing, and poses many questions. Will this work? Will we be forced to go on a break or break up? Will I be cheated on? Or worse, am I going to have to change my facebook status to "it's complicated?"
With limited finances, questions of trust, and infrequent physical contact, many couples ask themselves, "Is it worth it?"
According to the Web site Longdistancerelationships.net, "an estimated 4.4 million college students (20-40% of all students in some studies) are in long distance relationships." While most statistics show that these relationships are destined to decay into sappy movie and ice cream filled break-ups, there are many couples that make these relationships work.
Sophomore Riley Jacko, a 4th-semester human development and family studies and psychology double major, has maintained her long distance relationship with her boyfriend Kris Haggerty, who attends Western New England College in Springfield Mass., for almost two years.
Their trick? Good communication and maintaining trust.
"We try to talk as much as possible and try to trust as much as possible. It wouldn't work without complete trust," said Jacko.
Jacko works to get money so she can afford to visit Haggerty, and to keep the financial situation fair, they worked out a plan.
"If he comes down to visit me, I'll pay on our dates, if I go to see him he'll pay," said Jacko. "Kris works over the summer so he uses money from that."
Lauren DiLello, a 2nd-semester nutrition major, transferred to UConn during the fall semester, and trying to balance a new social life with a LDR became too hard.
This is the time in your life when you're supposed to experiment, have fun, and meet new people, and he didn't understand that," DiLello said. "He wanted me to be in my room talking to him on the phone at night and I wanted to be out. We just had different priorities."
Adding the term long distance to a relationship is a frightening thing, and poses many questions. Will this work? Will we be forced to go on a break or break up? Will I be cheated on? Or worse, am I going to have to change my facebook status to "it's complicated?"
With limited finances, questions of trust, and infrequent physical contact, many couples ask themselves, "Is it worth it?"
According to the Web site Longdistancerelationships.net, "an estimated 4.4 million college students (20-40% of all students in some studies) are in long distance relationships." While most statistics show that these relationships are destined to decay into sappy movie and ice cream filled break-ups, there are many couples that make these relationships work.
Sophomore Riley Jacko, a 4th-semester human development and family studies and psychology double major, has maintained her long distance relationship with her boyfriend Kris Haggerty, who attends Western New England College in Springfield Mass., for almost two years.
Their trick? Good communication and maintaining trust.
"We try to talk as much as possible and try to trust as much as possible. It wouldn't work without complete trust," said Jacko.
Jacko works to get money so she can afford to visit Haggerty, and to keep the financial situation fair, they worked out a plan.
"If he comes down to visit me, I'll pay on our dates, if I go to see him he'll pay," said Jacko. "Kris works over the summer so he uses money from that."
Lauren DiLello, a 2nd-semester nutrition major, transferred to UConn during the fall semester, and trying to balance a new social life with a LDR became too hard.
This is the time in your life when you're supposed to experiment, have fun, and meet new people, and he didn't understand that," DiLello said. "He wanted me to be in my room talking to him on the phone at night and I wanted to be out. We just had different priorities."
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