A new semester has probably just started in some universities. However, the students at Waseda University are now in the midst of studying for their final exams.
Believe it or not, for me, this semester has began by joining Her Campus Waseda. Within the last four months, I have realized that Her Campus has so much more depth than I’d ever thought. Moreover, I recognized that everyone and everything is connected within Her Campus.
Today, I’d like to spend some time to share five main things I learned during my first semester as a Her Campus writer.
- In Her Campus, there is always one or two campus correspondent(s) from each university. The correspondent(s) spends time organizing the schedules for the Her Campus members of their universities. Furthermore, each correspondent(s) is always connected to a chapter advisor, who constantly checks the progress of the Her Campus groups.
- In Her Campus, some members join the writers’ team, while some others take part in the SNS team (there are some people who participate in both teams). Those from the writers’ team – including me – are in charge of writing articles every two weeks (or weekly, in some special cases). Those from the SNS team promote the writers’ articles on Facebook and Twitter. Additionally, they post some encouraging photos/images on Instagram for all our lovely followers.
- In Her Campus, each university is given one of the five chapter levels: bronze, silver, gold, platinum, pink. I found it very interesting when I first found out that there are two colors higher in rank than gold in the Her Campus system (haha). In order for each university to reach a particular level, the writers need to write a certain number of articles, and the SNS team needs to promote and post certain number of times. The contribution of every member is thus necessary for each university to reach the higher chapter levels.
- In Her Campus, writing and posting articles/photos/images exercises each members’ brain to a high degree, regardless of how it is a recreational club to some extent. Although every Her Campus writer is allowed to write an article based on any topic, it is her responsibility to judge how she wants her writing to be perceived by the readers. Moreover, although the campus correspondent(s) helps edit each writer’s articles before they’re published, it is still the writer’s responsibility to have her opinions be concise with coherent sentences. In fact, I remember when I started joining Her Campus, I was so scared of having my articles published online. However, I simultaneously learned that as long as I keep stay away from any delicate topics that are difficult to write about neutrally, I can write to give courage, confidence, and smiles to every Her Campus reader.
- In Her Campus Waseda, we mainly receive the updated announcements and schedules from the campus correspondent(s) through a group chat. Additionally, most of the communication between members is done through Facebook Messenger. In other words, since our club mainly involves online tasks, the members rarely meet for gatherings. Although this may sound selfish, I really hope that there will be more Her Campus Waseda meetings next semester, so that I can memorize all the Waseda members’ faces and names. Also, I am really interested in learning more about my colleagues from Her Campus Waseda.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to writing more articles and further learning from Her Campus next semester (which will also be my ultimate semester)!
Lastly, I would like to give thanks to everyone for reading and promoting my articles from Her Campus this semester! Also, I’d like to give special thanks to those who gave me the greatest opportunity to join Her Campus (you know who you are)!
See you all again in April!
Love, Maria