With Palousafest and the beginning of the new fall term behind us, many students who are new to the area have probably heard the same piece of advice thrown at them on repeat.
“Be as involved as you possibly can.”
This advice could have come in different forms. It may have came from an alumnus who went on about how he regretted not being more “involved” in his community during college, or from a proud mother who reminisced about her days as a university student and told her child to try to be as “involved” as she was. That one word, “involved,” is bounced around and drilled into the minds of freshman classes everywhere.
Erin Bamer
The problem is nobody truly knows what constitutes being “involved” on campus. How can we expect new students to take this advice if we don”t even know what it means ourselves?
Sure, we can quote the literal definition of the word, but that doesn”t do much. Being involved is undeniably important though, so it”s also important for people to know what they”re talking about.
The concept is particularly hard to define, primarily because people only realize whether they were involved or not in hindsight. During the years people spend as students, most of us believe we are involved, even if in reality our situations are very different.
One student may feel like they are involved if they attend half of the classes on their schedule in a given week. Another student may not feel satisfied until they are in a leadership position for all of the clubs they are a member of and are passing every course they”re enrolled in with flying colors.
What gives the rest of us the right to judge which of these two students is “involved” or not? The simple answer is: nothing.
College students are diverse creatures, and we have different capacities for the amount of responsibilities we can each hold on our plates.
If new students are pressured to be involved in more things than they”re comfortable with, it could result in poor performances in their classes or even worse. Some students have become so overwhelmed with their responsibilities that they”ve given up on their college education entirely.
Balancing classes with responsibilities in Greek life, sports teams and other organizations is enough to spread most students thin. We shouldn”t make new students feel as though they have to participate in a certain number of things, because they don”t, and pushing them to do so isn”t going to inspire them to achieve anything.
Students need to find out what they”re passionate about and get involved on their own terms.
If you”re reading this as a new student, know that getting involved in your campus community is one of the most fulfilling things that you can do while you”re at the University of Idaho. But you aren”t obligated to participate in anything you don”t want do.
The start of the academic year is your chance to find the stuff you”re actually interested in doing, and you shouldn”t settle for anything less.
If at some point during the year you suddenly realize that you”ve spent the previous three weeks going to classes, watching Netflix in your dorm and nothing else, don”t be alarmed. It”s easy to get stuck in a routine like that, and you only need to break out of that routine if you feel the need to get yourself out and involved more than you have been.
If you want to mull over your choices and refrain from making a commitment to a specific organization right away, that”s fine too. The majority of student clubs are open to taking new members throughout the school year, and there”s nothing wrong with waiting to get more information so you”re absolutely sure about what you”re getting into.
By the end of a student”s time at UI, each of us wants to feel satisfied that we made a difference at the university, but we”re only going to feel that way if we spend out four years participating in something we truly loved and believed in.
Being involved on campus needs to be seen as a privilege, not as an obligation.
Erin Bamer can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @ErinBamer