Dear Piper,
My advisor keeps telling me to get more connected on campus with other students and student organizations. I am a commuter, and work a minimum of 25 hours per week. I guess I am not morally opposed to getting more involved on campus, but my time is limited. Do you know of any student organizations where the students are cool to hang out with, yet do some meaningful work?
-Looking for connections in all the wrong places
Dear Looking in All the Wrong Places,
Your name will be changing soon because you are now in the right spot with help from moi, Patricia Piper. Just as Hamline advertises, we have over 70 student orgs. One of those is bound to have the flexibility you need with amazing people and some meaningful work for you.
And if they don’t, you can say sayonara to them and make your own org that has all you are looking for! (Also I am not going to list all the orgs, because time but will be sorting through some ones that I think you will like. If you hate all my suggestions then look at the entire list of orgs here.
One org that definitely has meaningful work down is Colleges Against Cancer. I mean who can be against them? Their whole thing is being against cancer. They fight cancer by promoting awareness by volunteering with cancer advocacy groups. Plus when you volunteer, you can make sure that it works with your work. If it doesn’t you can find another time to volunteer. To contact them about joining up their email is HUCAC@hamline.edu .
If you want to build something-literally, then Habitat for Humanity might be the group for you. They raise awareness about homelessness and build homes for people in need. If this is the group for you feel free to put on your safety goggles and start emailing them at hamlinehabitat@hamline.edu .
Our next contestant on ‘Find Our Org’ is HEAL AKA Hamline Environmental Action League. This org strives to seek change by environmental activism, service work and education. They also do a lot of work around the community and being a commuter, it may help introduce you to the area surrounding Hamline. You can access them at heal@hamline.edu .
If you want to be a teacher or want to relive your elementary school days, Hamline Hand-in-Hand might be the one for you! They match up Hamline University students with Hamline Elementary students. You and your ‘buddy’ can talk about the woes of school food and classes. You can sign up for this org by emailing hamlinehih@hamline.edu .
If you do not want to give any of those orgs your heart or time, then HU Better Together might be the one to give your heart a break. It uses common values of people that are religious and not religious to engage in conversation AND DING DING DING! Do meaningful service work! I am not saying that you are soul mates, but I ship it. When you are ready to reach out to the ‘one,’ contact them at hubettertogether@hamline.edu .
The thing to remember when you are taking more on your plate, since you already have a lot with school and your job (though you are making bank) is not to take on too much. We have the terrible idea that being overworked is just a quirky trait and makes you a good hardworking person. But it really just drains you and ends up making you want to sleep and leave those obligations behind. So if you find a club and join then hate it, leave. Try to find another club that you enjoy and check out the list I included at the top of this article. Find yourself an org as special as you or make your own org!
Sincerely,
Patricia Piper
To get a response from Patricia Piper, email asks to hercampus@hamline.edu or message us on social media.