Congratulations to all the new students on campus, and welcome back to the rest of you! There’s so many opportunities that college presents to students – the ability to succeed and fail, meet new people, learn how to do a keg stand and exactly how to procrastinate. However, there’s one thing that college has taught me that I think is the most valuable thing to learn while you’re away from what you know in a completely foreign place – the ability to find yourself.
As an incoming freshman this should be a completely new and fresh experience for you (with the exception of some locals), and this also gives you the opportunity to find out just who you are. At WVU there are so many diverse types of people throughout the student body, hippies, jocks, Greeks, deep-thinkers and partiers- but these titles are somewhat superficial. When you’re taken out of your home element and placed into something completely new this is your chance to explore what’s out there for you, for you to find out where you can live and find peace. It’s a hard concept to find one’s true identity, but once the moment happens the little things that used to matter don’t anymore.
As a freshman I wasn’t sure whom I wanted to spend time with, what I wanted to do with my future and where I fit. This is 100% normal for all of the students coming here, and still holds true for a lot of the older students (and some adults). Identity is a tricky concept, it forces us to grow and figure out where our heart lies, what we want with ourselves and that’s exactly what we need in order to find out where we want to be in 15 years. I was stuck between writing and becoming a doctor – something I’ve wanted since I was 4 years old. To probably everyone’s surprise I stuck with medicine. I got involved on campus and tried so many different things – but nothing compared to the feeling I get when I’m helping someone. The best part about being a college student is you can mix whatever you love into your schedule no matter what. Example: How I’m writing for a magazine while still trying to fulfill my dreams to one day take care of the ill.
Moral of the story is simple, get involved – try things you never thought you would, the worst that can happen is you find you don’t like something and you move on. All these little experiences are things that will help you to find out who you are, and who knows you may stumble upon something so amazing that you’ll be changed forever.