As I count the days until graduation (55 days!!!) I cannot help but feel sad that my time in college is ending. These four years have been the best in my life. I know everyone says that about high school or college and it seems like such a cliche but it is true. These last four years have flown by and I can truly say I will miss Marywood and all I have done here and accomplished.
If there is one thing I could go back and tell my freshman year self is that getting involved is key. I get asked a lot from my friends, family, friends of my family, perspective students and parents, or underclassman what the biggest thing I learned in college was. I tell them the same thing every time. Getting involved is the biggest thing, in my opinion it makes or breaks your college experience. Going to small school made it even more important and vital that I get involved so I am not just eating, sleeping, going to class and studying. If you just do those things you are going to have a pretty boring college life. The reason I think getting involved is so important is because there are so many benefits to it. The list is endless but the biggest advantages are meeting new people, building professional relationships with faculty, getting new experiences and stepping out of your comfort zone and it keeps you busy.
Speaking from personal experience, I am a huge advocate of being active in college. I learned this lesson the hard way. My freshman year I was not involved at all and I did nothing but sleep, eat and school and it made me hate college. I did not want to have the same experience that I did in high school where I was miserable for 4 years. I told myself that in college I wanted to have a different life and step out of my comfort zone. So sophomore year I decided that it was time for me to sign up for some clubs and apply for those positions as a student leader. Well I only got involved in 2 things but I was proud of myself. I got involved in founding the chapter of Phi Beta Lambda at our school and became an admissions ambassador. Then junior year I decided to take a huge leap of faith and go abroad and then when I came back I decided to become the study abroad assistant, run for an executive position in a club and apply to be in the student activities crew. But the biggest jump was this year my last year at college. I decided that if I was going to make the most of my time at college I need to do more. So currently I am involved in being a chair in Kidstuff, admissions ambassador, tutor, treasurer in the chess club, student activities shadow, campus crew for Love Your Melon and I am also the social media director for Her Campus Marywood. Now I know what you are thinking, this is too much for one person to do and how do I have a life. Well my life is doing all these activities and going to school and I would not change a thing. I absolutely love all that I do and it is 100% stressful and I do not sleep as much as I would like but it is so worth it. Now I do not think you need to do 8 things to be involved but definitely try to do one or two things at college to keep yourself busy. So for all you underclassman or incoming freshman reading this, do not do what I did and wait long to get involved, get involved early and you will have a great four years.