Until you attend your first involvement fair
at Penn State, you will not BELIEVE all of the things you can be involved in on
campus. Literally… you probably won’t believe me. These are just a few of the
current clubs and organizations you can join (total, there are over 1,000):
3D Printing Club, the American Helicopter Society, the Asian Undergraduate Student Association, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Belly Dancing, British Culture Society, Caribbean Student Association, Coffee Club, Concrete Canoe, Egyptian Student Association, Fencing Club, Figure Skating Club, Glee Club, The International Society of Explosives Engineers, Irish Student Society, Jungle Club, Longboarding Club, Music Therapy Club, Nittany Divers SCUBA, Paranormal Research Society, the Pokemon Society, Sailing Club, Student Red Cross Club, Swing Dance Club, Ultimate Frisbee, Winemaking Club, and the list continues.
3D Printing Club, the American Helicopter Society, the Asian Undergraduate Student Association, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Belly Dancing, British Culture Society, Caribbean Student Association, Coffee Club, Concrete Canoe, Egyptian Student Association, Fencing Club, Figure Skating Club, Glee Club, The International Society of Explosives Engineers, Irish Student Society, Jungle Club, Longboarding Club, Music Therapy Club, Nittany Divers SCUBA, Paranormal Research Society, the Pokemon Society, Sailing Club, Student Red Cross Club, Swing Dance Club, Ultimate Frisbee, Winemaking Club, and the list continues.
The point is: there are a lot. You have 1,000+
opportunities to be involved in whatever you want to here, but you only have
four years (maybe five if you’re like me) to participate in everything you
possibly can.
So how do you possibly choose? Can you do everything? As much as I’d like to tell you yes, no, you really can’t do everything. Engineers already have pretty full schedules, so joining 1,000 clubs just won’t work. The good news is that you can still do a lot. Here are my tips for learning about orgs, joining the ones you like, and still staying on top of your busy schedule:
1. Go to an involvement fair. Don’t get involved…not IMMEDIATELY at least. The biggest mistake I made at my first involvement fair was giving my email to about 50 different clubs. They are awful at removing you from their email list, and whether they admit to it or not, they’ll email you basically every day. My suggestion for your first involvement fair is to bring a notepad and a pen. Write down the name of the clubs you like (and maybe the emails of their presidents), and review your list after you leave. All of the clubs are registered online so you can easily find them, and join them whenever you’ve decided you DEFINITELY want to join. If you want more information before joining, that’s when you need the president’s email address. Just ask them any questions you have, and officially join when you know you really want to be involved.
So how do you possibly choose? Can you do everything? As much as I’d like to tell you yes, no, you really can’t do everything. Engineers already have pretty full schedules, so joining 1,000 clubs just won’t work. The good news is that you can still do a lot. Here are my tips for learning about orgs, joining the ones you like, and still staying on top of your busy schedule:
1. Go to an involvement fair. Don’t get involved…not IMMEDIATELY at least. The biggest mistake I made at my first involvement fair was giving my email to about 50 different clubs. They are awful at removing you from their email list, and whether they admit to it or not, they’ll email you basically every day. My suggestion for your first involvement fair is to bring a notepad and a pen. Write down the name of the clubs you like (and maybe the emails of their presidents), and review your list after you leave. All of the clubs are registered online so you can easily find them, and join them whenever you’ve decided you DEFINITELY want to join. If you want more information before joining, that’s when you need the president’s email address. Just ask them any questions you have, and officially join when you know you really want to be involved.
2. Be
yourself, and be someone totally new. This
is college; it’s your time to do whatever you want and really put yourself out
there. Maybe you would LOVE the Olympic Weight Lifting club, maybe not. Whenever you have your list of clubs that you’re interested in, pick one or two
that you know are totally you, and then pick one that goes a little outside of
your comfort zone. If you don’t like it, you really have nothing to lose, but I
have heard of some people who have found totally new hobbies that they fall in
love with (and yes, weight lifting became one of my friend’s new obsessions;
and yes, she’s a girl).
3. Ask
when meetings are. As much as you LOVE to
play clarinet, if the clarinet club meets at 8pm every Wednesday and you have
Chem Lab every Wednesday night, you just won’t make it to meetings, so there’s
no point in joining… yet. Maybe next semester your schedule will free up, or
scheduled weekly meetings for your favorite club will change. Keep your options
open, but don’t join things that you just can’t be involved in. It’ll be
another spam-a-lot for your inbox.
4.
Schedule EVERYTHING. Now this one is not
even across the board. Maybe it works for you, maybe it doesn’t, but I am a
planner. I plan/schedule everything even including when I shower each day
(okay, I’m only that extreme during finals week, but you get the idea. My
planner is basically my soul mate). The point is, if you are planning to go to
a THON committee meeting for 3 hours tonight (and sometimes they DO last that
long), you had better allow enough time before/after to finish your lab report
that is due tomorrow. That is where my schedules come into play. After about
two weeks of classes, I know how long assignments, lab reports, etc. should
take me to complete. I add those things into my weekly planner before the week
starts to make sure I can complete all of my necessary work, then I add in
extracurriculars where they fit. You’ll find a balance pretty quickly. If you
aren’t doing well in your classes because you are dedicated to making it to a
ton of club meetings and activities, then you need to drop a few.
When it comes down to it, being involved in
so many diverse and exciting activities is possibly what I love most about Penn
State. I can battle pediatric cancer through THON, learn more about my industry
through the Society of Petroleum Engineers, take a stand against child abuse
through One Heart, send care packages to soldiers overseas through the Dear
Hero Program, and in a few weeks, I’ll be travelling to Iceland with a
scholarship from the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences to learn about
renewable energy. Penn State has completely changed my life for the better, but
only because I let it. GET. INVOLVED. As I’m nearing graduation, the one thing
I’m already beginning to miss is the opportunities I have at Penn State to
throw myself at different experiences without anything holding me back. Don’t
miss out on that. Research clubs and orgs, join the ones you love and some
weird ones too, make new friends, and TAKE COLLEGE BY STORM; no one is going to
lead the way. It’s up to you to make these next four years the best of your
life. I know I have.
Thou didst mold us, Dear Old State…
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