Don't Just Sit There Your First Year. Get Involved

When it comes down to it, college is what you make of it. If you plan to succeed, it’ll mean long study sessions all alone into the wee hours of the night. But where’s the fun in focusing only on academics? No, we’re not condoning treating college like one long party, but there’s a fun side and social side of going to school, and yes, those aspects take some effort as well.

If you’re dorming your first year, as you probably are, you’ll be meeting plenty of new faces and making all sorts of new friends—that’s one of the best parts about dorming! When you’re living in such close quarters, frankly you have to make an effort not to get to know your fellow dormmates.

And then there are classes. As in high school classes, you’ll be paired up with other students for projects, in-class debates, and all sorts of academic group work. These all provide opportunities to speak with people you otherwise wouldn’t have and to make new friends. But in some classes, namely those big lecture-style classes, don’t be surprised if you don’t speak with anyone; with a professor lecturing in monotone to a group of 100 students, there’s not exactly much room for conversation.

Next to dorming, the best way to meet new friends involves a simple process: find a club or activity that you’re interested in and … join it! You’re really just making up excuses if you say there’s no club that interests you. Your school, not matter how big or small it is, will have a plethora of clubs and activities for you, the student. Some involve interest in an academic field, some focus on sports, and others revolve around downright eclectic interests such as medieval philosophies and lesser-known board games—trust us, no matter your hobbies or interests, there’s an extracurricular club out there for you.

Not only does getting involved in an activity further your initial interest, but you’ll be surrounded by people with a common interest. Again, you’d have to practically try not to meet new people. And whatever your chosen activity, you’ll only further develop that interest by being immersed in a group of just-as-avid other students.

The sooner you get involved in a club, the better off you’ll be. It’s easier to get to know other members when everyone’s still new and looking to make new friends. That and if you arrived to school without knowing anyone, you don’t want to spend your first semester eating alone and hanging out with your goldfish all the time, do you? So be quick to get involved. School clubs and organizations will be peppering you with fliers and handouts to get the word about their club. Don’t just stuff those in your trash. Read them. And better yet, sign up!

The Other Side of College Learning: A Well-Rounded Education Beyond the Textbook

No matter your major, there are plenty of facts to learn and memorize throughout college. Yet, there’s an unstated group of skills that college should also teach, skills that are often picked up if not studied directly, though you won’t find them on any syllabi. As you go through college, there are other skills worth making sure that you’ve learned, as, like it or not, you’ll be expected to have working knowledge, if not be a master, of the said skills.

Writing

You don’t need to be an English major to know how to write well, or at least how to write concisely, properly, and effectively. No matter your major, college life will require you to do plenty of writing. This is a huge annoyance to some students, but if that’s you, then you should actually be more  appreciative of the chance to practice. You probably won’t be writing many 10-page papers after graduation, but you will be writing emails, memos, and other messages that require the written word. It’s quite frustrating when, after writing something, it’s ambiguous and incomplete in its message. Also, there are a number of grammar and punctuation rules your expected to follow that college helps to entrench correctly—hopefully you caught that slip-up in the last sentence if you’re paying attention.

Speaking

Speaking in front of large groups isn’t a pleasant activity for most, neither is speaking about yourself during a job interview. Even so, college again is supposed to help foster such communicative skills. There are public speaking classes in most schools, yet even just communicating well on a personal level is a skill worth making sure you’re capable of. This one, at least, isn’t too hard to work on, as, if you talk to anyone, you’re practicing. And while most of us don’t go around starting conversations to boost communicative skills, at any workplace, it’ll be a skill that’s used daily.

Politics

OK, so maybe you didn’t vote in your last local election or maybe you still need to update your registered voting address. And maybe you’re not tuned in to CSPAN daily. Either way, it’s not a bad idea to have a basic knowledge of politics and to maintain it throughout college and afterwards. Knowing and caring about what’s happening in your community, and the whole world for that matter, will never be a bad thing. While so much discussion about politics is synonmous with frustration and anger, no one says you have to get feelings mixed up while trying to make yourself more aware!

Manners

You might learn to say please and thank you while you’re in kindergarten, but now’s the time to make sure you’re putting all of that learning into effect! No, once again you won’t find many classes in college out there on manners and etiquette, but by now, you probably know what’s right and expected. Your parents’ generation might appreciate such old-fashioned etiquette more, yet good manners are never a bad thing to posses, whether you’re grabbing lunch with a professor or on a first date. 

Is There Enough Fun To Be Had In College?

Pursuing new academic interests is one of the often mentioned goals of college. But what about finding new hobbies? That’s actually another benefit that comes from school. While college will always be about expanding your educational horizons, it’s also a great time to pick up a few new activities that you enjoy doing. 

Before going further, perhaps it seems college wouldn’t be such an ideal time to discover new hobbies or interests. After all, a significant part of college life involves schoolwork. That being said, though, you’ll still take time—and need time—to unwind. And for such reprieve, college offers the perfect environment. 

You know that, even if you go to a small school, there will be plenty of extracurricular events occurring at all times. Have you ever tried rock climbing? How about painting? You’ll be in an environment where there are always new things going on, and opportunities to try them all will be in abundance. Best of all, since it’ll be a school club, it’ll be free!

You might not think you need any help finding new forms of fun or new hobbies, but what if you discover something that you really like? This same concept is often applied to learning; you’ll frequently hear that college is a great time to explore academic interests, and it’s part of the reason why your school probably has diverse general education requirements. So take this same spirit and apply it to your hobbies, as you won’t know what’s out there until you try.

At the very least, you’ll certainly hear friends discussing TV shows and music that they like, and you’ll probably check out what they’re interested in, too. This will lead to further discovery of new interests, and while becoming a fan of a new favorite show isn’t exactly going to be life-changing or one of your best college memories, it’ll serve as a minor example of the sort of connections and new experiences that college life fosters.

And if you’re one for sports or other recreational physical activity, college again provides the best time to try something new. It might not be the easiest to get into, say, touch football a couple decades down the road. So don’t miss out on such activities while you can! 

Staying Green in College: Tips For Environmentally Friendly Dorm and College Life

It’s been trendy for years now to live as environmentally friendly as possible; there are even some rather extreme green methods of green living out there! Yet, assuming you’d like to do your part and help out the earth, you don’t need to live a plastic-free life just to have a more green lifestyle in college. There are a variety of simple, effective, and college-related means of staying green.

Unplug Your Dorm

No matter if you spend plenty of time in your dorm room or go there mainly just to sleep, many of your electronics, or devices related to your electronics, will always remain in your dorm room. Your charger for your cellphone and for your laptop, for example, are probably lying in some tangle on your floor. Aside from being a tripping hazard (which is a topic for

another day), those chargers can be doing damage if unchecked. OK, they’re not really a safety threat, but they’re an earth-health threat. Don’t leave them plugged in when not in use, as you’ll drain unneeded electricity. No, you don’t pay an electrical bill for your dorm room, but since it’s so easy to just unplug those chargers, don’t leave them needlessly plugged in. The same goes for your electric pencil sharpener, printer, and other electronics that you might not use often. Sucking up unneeded electricity is like pouring water down the drain. Why waste?

Keep it in Park

While you’re on campus, you might have brought a car to school, even if it’s your first year. Maybe you need to drive to sports practice or to club meetings off-campus. Either way, don’t use your car when it’s not needed. In fact, you’re likely not even adding to the convenience factor when driving when you consider parking, gas, traffic jams, and possibly a fender bender. Even if your campus is spread out, it’ll never be out of the question to walk, ride a bike, or take a campus shuttle if available. You know that walking and biking will also combat freshman-year weight gain, so it’s a win-win.

Finish Your Food

Speaking of weight gain, that all-you-can-eat school cafeteria will be beckoning at all hours of the day and night. Usually it’s a quick swipe of your student ID, and plates of plates of food are yours for the taking. Hopefully it tastes good, and if it does, that smorgasbord of plates can pile up quick on your cafeteria tray. There’s plenty to be said about healthy eating in college, yet also consider reducing wasting food. A few bites of a sandwich here, half a cookie there, and some spoonfuls of soup might comprise a meal, but consider how much you just threw out. You might think uneaten food is helping your figure, but you’re also wasting and hurting the environment with every tossed bite. Instead, take only what you plan to consume and avoid sending half your meal to some landfill. Some green-innovative schools collect food scraps for compost. How about getting that started in your school?

Plenty of Paper

Along those lines, avoid tearing out 15 napkins, using two, and then tossing the rest. To save paper further, you can look toward the classroom. You’ll receive plenty of syllabi and paper handouts throughout your college career, which means lots of felled trees. You probably won’t be rushing out to plant more trees, but you can certainly recycle all those papers. (OK, you might have to resist the urge to burn a folder from a particularly loathsome class.) Recycling a whole course-load of papers can really add up. And it’s not like any extra work is required—just drop it in the recycling bin instead of the trash!