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U Mass Boston | Life

Finding Community on a Commuter Campus

Dakota Brown Student Contributor, University of Massachusetts - Boston
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at U Mass Boston chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

Entering college right after high school, just like many of my peers, I was ready for a new start. For me, that new start needed to take the form of finding a community where I couldn’t before. As a teenager, I heavily struggled to fit in and find my place. I maintained few close friendships and wasn’t overly active in many clubs, mostly just going to school to return back home. I had many friends through the internet as well as a good relationship with my siblings, so this was fine for the time, but I knew I wanted more. 

That’s why when I was getting ready to go to college, I was determined to find somewhere that I could find a community and enjoy that classic school spirit. College was a fresh start for me, and I intended to take advantage of it. When I ended up committing to UMass Boston, I couldn’t have predicted what I would be walking into. 

UMB had much less student life than I was hoping for in a school I would be committed to for at least the next four years. With dorms being limited and reserved mostly for freshmen, most students live off-campus. My friends went to private universities with flourishing recreation, football teams, and dorming through senior year if desired. 

I felt disconnected and left out, questioning if I enjoyed my school throughout freshman year. I liked my friends and the connections I had built, but it just still didn’t feel right. 

Everything changed when I began my sophomore year, starting a job at The Mass Media, our school’s student newspaper. I’ve always loved to write, so using my Her Campus articles from the past year as a portfolio, I started as a features writer in Fall 2024. My best friend had already been working there and had moved upward in the staff, incentivizing me to get to know people that way. The staff of the paper, specifically the production team, became some of my best friends.

I used my job there to make connections with people too. I frequently interviewed people from different clubs and departments around the school, allowing me to easily build connections and get to know people. This is what inspired me to do a column called “Beacons of Light,” highlighting students at UMB for their accomplishments. 

As I got more involved and people saw my face in the community more, I found that I would notice way more people knowing me before I even knew them. It felt like the university found me in a way after struggling for my whole first year with finding the community here. This is what led me to decide I wanted to double major in history and labor studies too. I met students and faculty in these departments through my work and through them, learned what I wanted to do with my life. I switched from an economics major and decided I would also get my master’s degree in education.

It was because I took the leap that I found a community. I thought originally that it would just be there and surround me like it does at some other colleges. Just because you don’t live in the dorms or have a very busy school doesn’t mean that you can’t find school spirit and community. Once I took a chance and began putting myself out there through my job, I finally gained the university sense of community I had been wanting. I’m now in my junior year and I couldn’t be happier. I love my university and you can learn to love yours too if you put yourself out there and don’t give up on finding your people. 

Dakota Brown

U Mass Boston '27

Dakota Brown is a freshman and an editor for the HerCampus at UMass Boston chapter. He joined in Fall 2023 and hopes to work on articles about wellness and entertainment. He enjoys writing about movies, relationships and places around Boston he visits.

Beyond working on HerCampus, Dakota is majoring in economics with a minor in sociology. He hopes to get his master's in economics and move to Washington DC. He joined HerCampus for a strong sense of community and to gain experience in recreational writing. He is a strong fighter for LGBTQIA+ rights and women's rights and applies that to his everyday life, educating others on how to support young minorities better, especially in STEM.

In his free time, Dakota enjoys the Twilight series, hockey, art, and exercising. He spends much of his down time either with his friends, at the gym, or even both. He has a dachshund named Tootsie Roll that he loves to show pictures of to everyone he meets. When not on campus, he spends a lot of time with his little sister and out shopping.