My New School year resolutions

The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of The University of Scranton.

Hello everyone! Right now, we’re on the cusp of fall break, but I started this article on the third week of classes. The beginning of a new school year always feels more like a new year than January 1st does, so I figured it would be appropriate to write my “New School Year Resolutions”. 

1. Learn to make the perfect chicken cutlet: Now I know this doesn’t SOUND like that momentous of an undertaking, but as anyone who’s tried to replicate the perfect flavorful, tender, crispy, thin chicken cutlet, it’s hard. I made my first batch this week and bought chicken that was surprisingly thick, over-breaded it, and burnt it. This is an especially important goal because I’m off my school’s meal plan this year, so I need to learn to make things beside mini frittatas and pasta. 
2. Be active in my extracurriculars: I don’t know about everyone else, but each year, it seems to be the same schtick: I go to club fair, sign up for a million things, and then leave the club emails, ignored and neglected like some sad dog from an ASPCA commercial. So, this year, I’ve decided I’m going to make a concerted effort to join clubs, go to meetings, and get to know people.
3. Stay active: Since the spring of last school year, I’ve been trying to get out more. At first, it was because I had just gotten a summer camp job that was going to require me to walk around 7 miles (mostly uphill) all day. Flash forward to now, I’ve gotten a lot more active, and I really want to continue that into this school year. 
4. Have at least 1 meal per week with another person (or people): This, like the chicken cutlet resolution, may seem small. But, with busy schedules and our increasingly digitized, isolating society, it’s hard to prioritize things like that. So, I want to push myself to put my phone down and connect with another person.
5. Cut down headphone time: Think of how many times you see someone on campus that you want to say hi to while you’re wearing headphones. It always goes the same way: You see them far in the distance, think it’s probably them, you fiddle with your headphones, and in the time it took you to decide whether to say hi, they’ve already vanished. So, I’m trying to restrict when I wear headphones to when I’m doing work (like right now), or when I’m working out. 
6. Make new friends: Last year, a lot of my friends graduated college, but I’m not planning on letting that stop me from having an awesome, fun, junior year. I’m really going to make a concerted effort to make new friends and strengthen the friendships I already have. 

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