Throw Yourself into College and Get Involved in the Benefits of Higher Education

Looking back, what about college will you be happiest to have achieved? In the years immediately after college, many find that employers care little about your GPA. This is disheartening, to say the least, to those who kept their GPA high by countless all-nighters which included many cups of tar-like coffee to keep them going. If not grades, then what? It won't be the classes you took, though the instructors you meet in those classes may be a different story (more on that later). Most of what you accomplish thanks to those memorized factoids from class will be imitable by those who simply go and look up answers. Also, how many civil engineers are there in history classes? Surely these disciplines aren't immediately relevant to one another. All this being said, don't imagine that you can succeed in school without having done all these things. But, the point is this: School isn't necessarily only for school.

Observing those who lead today, by and large they went to college. Continuing that idea, those who will lead tomorrow are in school today. Maybe that's you. Chances are it's not. However, you are in school with those people. So while you're here, network as much as is possible. Try everything, regardless of the form in which it appears, help others, pursue your passion, and remember that a new perspective on things may bring that magical quality that your hometown has long since lost (if only in your own eyes).

Try absolutely everything that your college has to offer. Your college has a budget specifically for providing students "stuff" to do. You've probably already paid for it: Look at your student bill (it's that section labeled "Student Activities"). My college provides trips to tourist attractions, free classes on computing, and movies shown regularly (tonight is I am Legend, a movie that I've been forced to miss thus far). Yours will have something similar. If you're unsure, go to the "Office of Student Success" (or some other similarly named entity) and ask.

As you walk the hallowed halls of your college, you may see flyers taped haphazardly to windows, doors, walls, urinals... Stop and take a look at them. If you've somehow missed those flyers, you really need to look up from your books occasionally. Someone's passion is right there in front of you. If it's free, you have no excuse to miss it. Even if you only go once. Maybe the fabled "underwater basket weaving" isn't as bad as everyone actually claimed it was. The history fellows society may have something to offer the engineer (perhaps there are designs that have fallen out of fashion, which are just waiting to make a comeback). Between events posted in your student union, cafeteria, gym, or wherever, (combined with time for studies) you shouldn't have a spare minute to miss home or think about being bored. Also, more colleges are realizing that they need to begin addressing students' online lives (you're reading this article online, aren't you?) and so, by posting events or setting up mailing lists about new events, our schools are able to reach us faster and keep us more informed than ever before.

But, in the interests of creating the life which you can look back upon fondly, remember to participate in events that are for someone other than yourself. Many fraternities and sororities have picked up on the altruistic passions of their members. If you're not Greek, no problem. Your school will have food drives, blood drives, Habitat for Humanity projects, Americorps, and any other number of events which get you involved. Someone (and if you know who, please write to tell me) said that the measure of a man is what he does for others when he has absolutely nothing to gain from it (for purposes of clarity I used a masculine term, though by no means are women excluded from that sentiment). Few opportunities can be found that are as fulfilling as helping those who need help. Remember all those cliche's about holding the world in the palm of your hands, or how one person can make a difference? Those cliche's aren't just pretty words. Try it, and try to prove me wrong.

Now, when I said earlier that the flyers you pass by are someone's passion, there is the chance that YOUR passion is not represented there on those walls. In that case, start your own club. Many times have I found kindred spirits who were simply waiting for someone to offer them an opportunity to pursue a passion or dream. If instead of waiting, they were acting... Man, this has become an incredibly cliche article, but it's true! Those honors societies and huge campus clubs started somewhere. Perhaps the next big one starts with you leaving your computer (and my article, unfortunately) and printing up some flyers for an online meeting. Any number of sites can help you to organize clubs, whether it be Google or Yahoo groups, or something else. It'll be work, but it's rewarding. Remember to take chances. Throw crazy promotional events that involve ridiculous costumes that no self-respecting student would be seen wearing. Write articles for the student paper that promote your new organization or that introduce students to that passion of yours. My passion was about an oriental game known as Go. Most people haven't heard of it, so it was my mission to introduce them to this wonderfully deep and challenging game. Currently, my passion involves introducing people to cultures that are nothing like their native one. (That one might be in a later article)

Speaking of new cultures, UM - St. Louis events really cater to international students. While in primary or secondary school, I might've gone to the Arch countless times. But there's just something about seeing it with a student who's visiting from China that really brings back that special air to what is otherwise a worn and tired trip. Visitors tend to reawaken something that sleeps within us: Excitement. Walking around St. Louis with my longtime friends doesn't appeal to me in the same way that walking those same roads with a French student named Alexendre (who, for whatever reason, has a fascination with taking pictures of large American cars) does. Not only was he sharing French culture with me (which I admit, had previously held no appeal), but I'm teaching him about the U.S. and being American.

If you've made it this far, hopefully something here resonates within you to make you feel like you can do something. Don't lose that energy. Write down your ideas now, studies have shown people who write their goals are much more likely to achieve them. The people around you want you to achieve those goals. Sometimes they share them, other times they simply want to support you. Find your passion in college. Don't just pursue it, that implies a delay of achievement. Instead, realize that your passion is what you run with and what you absorb into yourself with every thing you do.

Good luck, and let me know how you do.