As we near the end of another semester, incoming students at UIdaho Bound infiltrate the campus on the weekends and everyone (and their parents) seems to ask the same big question: “How do I get involved?”
The canned answer is to tell prospective students that they can get involved in whatever they want and to check VandalSync for our full lineup of clubs and organizations. Over the past year, I took the get involved approach to the absolute extreme to varying results. I learned plenty about what the real benefits are to inserting myself in different communities, but not everything was beneficial. College culture as a whole places a considerable amount of pressure on getting involved somehow without taking the requisite steps to figure out how to make the best decisions.
Jonah Baker | Argonaut
During my semester-long experiment, I topped out at two positions with The Argonaut, two more student involvement groups and a leadership position in my fraternity in addition to the usual troubles of schoolwork and applying for internships. Again, this was all voluntary under the preconceived notion that there is always a direct correlation between getting involved and becoming a better person or potential employee. The truth is far more complicated.
Every organization offers something different and they pander to all points on our spectrums, so naturally I wasn’t going to enjoy every hour of my involvement as much as someone else might have. Through a combination of a lack of research and lack of resources, I probably wasn’t as productive or effective as my resume listings might suggest. I was too involved, including many commitments that were short-sighted at the beginning and cumbersome by the end of the semester.
I am thankful for the experiences that I had in each of these positions, but I did not spend enough time considering what I wanted out of my time being involved on campus. This is where our university lacks the resources necessary to allow students to make the most out of their time here.
VandalSync is a great place to start, as are the various fairs that physically highlight all the different ways for students to get started. There is, however, not enough emphasis placed on just trying something before making a significant commitment to a club or organization.
Instead of telling our new students to pick an interest and commit to it singularly, we need to focus on getting them to try a variety of things to find the best fit before getting started.
The ultimate enactment of this vision would be a weeklong endeavor to get students to try around a dozen different clubs or organizations with relaxed commitments to schoolwork. Syllabus week and the first couple of weeks immediately after are not often overwhelmingly difficult for freshmen, so taking advantage of a lower-stress time could be the key to smarter involvement.
From the university’s standpoint, there are plenty of reasons to support an involvement-trial test period. Most organizations across campus are struggling with involvement, from ASUI down to the Logger Sports club. The university supplies thousands of dollars in funding to the many different student organizations, so allowing students a grace period to find their best fits could eliminate the possibility of picking something and then dropping it a couple weeks in without ever finding another way to make a difference on campus.
Every employer is looking for candidates that aren’t just great students, but active agents in their communities and capable of more than just test taking and essay writing. Filling that void is the exact purpose of student involvement in and around campus, and we have to turn the tide back in favor of intelligent involvement.
As I learned, the answer is not to throw all my time at involvement and to see what sticks. Whether it be a week, a weekend or even just a day, the university’s best shot to reinvigorate involvement on campus is to give its students a designated time period to just try getting involved at a menagerie of outlets.
Intelligent involvement is the key to better on-campus experiences and more qualified graduates, so why not make the change?
Jonah Baker can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @jonahpbaker