Fall semester of my freshman year, I roamed through the jungle that is Festifall. As fliers and leaflets were pressed into my hands by eager members of student organizations, I flipped through them anxiously searching for my place on campus. With so many places to look and so many options to pursue, I eventually became overwhelmed and temporarily set aside the leaflets and my enthusiasm. For that first semester, I focused on my academics, my new friends, and adjusting to this new way of life. While I was happy with this, and thankful for the extra time I had to settle into college with, by winter term I was itching for that extracurricular involvement that I was so used to. At least I thought that was what I was looking for. However, as a graduating senior, looking back at my involvement in the student organizations that helped shape my time here, I realize that it was the sense of community I found within those groups that truly influenced me to get involved.
There is so much to be gained and so much to learn from being involved on campus. One of the greatest rewards, however, is building a network of individuals with shared passions and goals. Even greater, these communities often become some of your closest friends, and if not your immediate friend group, an additional one for you to share great moments with. It is also in these spaces that we often encounter those that might be different from us in a number of ways. We are able to build and exchange skills, contributing to our arsenal of intellectual, social and even professional resources. Furthermore, we are challenged and pushed to grow and learn more about ourselves and those around us. Overall, finding our space and finding our people is what truly helps us find ourselves.
Now, in my final semester, the majority of my time is dedicated to finishing strong and thinking about what comes next. Yet, the time that I committed to the student groups I was involved in over the years (and the amazing people I came to know through them) has helped me grow in so many ways and was a large, significant, and valuable part of my college career. I will be sad to leave that piece of college behind, but I will forever cherish the great sense of community I found there and make it imperative to have that in my future life in some small or grand capacity. In doing something that makes us happy, I think it just as important to have people that help make us happy too.
Photo courtesy of: http://tcpermaculture.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/community.jpg