When I graduated from high school, my best friend a year above me, Anna, gave me a very important piece of advice for college. She told me to participate in as much as I could, join clubs and generally try to be active on campus. Anna went to a college much closer to our hometown and felt that she’d missed out on a lot during her own college experience because she didn’t live on campus or go to many events.
She was one of the only people I felt like I could turn to for advice while attending GMU, since I am a first generation college student. That particular piece of advice ended up being one of the most important things I took with me my freshman year.
At first it was really hard to push myself into clubs and events because of how intimidating a university of this size can be for someone who’s graduating class was roughly 200 people. I lucked out my freshman year, living on a floor of people who I naturally clicked with and an incredible RA who I became fast friends with.
My RA, Hannah, was essentially my guardian angel from day one when I found out she was in the Green Machine Pep Band, which I wanted to join but had no idea where to find. Hannah taught me everything I needed to know about college level band, adjusting to college life and, probably most importantly, introduced me to Kappa Kappa Psi.
(I promise this isn’t going to just be a greek life plug.)
As great as my freshman floor was, I was struggling heavily to find my place in college between the social anxiety and classes. I was desperate to find a group that had the same familial bond as my high school marching band. Naturally, when I found out George Mason has a service oriented music fraternity that my RA was a brother of, I was more than intrigued.
I threw myself into the social deepend and went out to as many recruitment week events as I could. I was constantly terrified I’d say the wrong thing, worried nobody would like me and petrified that they’d reject me.
I now serve as the vice president of George Mason’s Kappa Kappa Psi chapter.
I ended up doing this two more major times in my college career. First, when I joined the GMU TTRPG Club after falling in love with Dungeons and Dragons, and a second time when I submitted my application for Her Campus.
Since you’re reading this, I’d say I lucked out pretty hard on that second one.
This isn’t advice limited to clubs though. I’ve been to Fall for the Book, my fraternity brothers’ concerts all across campus, made funny crafts at back to school events and gone all across the metro from Washington D.C. to Tysons Corner. If there was something to do, I tried my damndest to do it.
Anna’s advice pushed me through the past four years of college and helped me join so many incredible organizations at this university. Even though the pandemic took away my last three semesters at George Mason and so many events I’d been looking forward to, I’ll never be able to say I didn’t do as much as I could when I still had the chance. I’ll never regret the choices I made and people I met at this school.
So now, collegiettes, I pass on this advice to you. Whether you’re a freshman or a junior, you still have time. Even with the pandemic there’s so many incredible events and organizations that this school offers. Go to the virtual visiting writers series, join a club on Mason360 and come back to campus in full force when it’s safe again. Make the most of your time here.