Author: Peppermint Mocha

Make the Most of College… It’s Fun!

            Coming into college, I knew nobody, I was scared about not having any friends, and I was also not planning to really be involved, at least for my freshman year. I can safely say, it has been the total opposite of my expectations. I have friends, I am involved, and it is overall way more fun and engaging than I ever expected. To get to the point of being involved and loving college, there are steps to take along the way. You have to go to opening weekend events, even if they are not required, that is where I met one of my best friends. Sign up for a variety of different clubs, even if they may seem scary at first. I never expected myself to sign up for a sorority, but I made it through the pledge process and have become an official sister. I also never thought I would do DECA, but now I’m on the executive board as a first-year student. I have met so many great and amazing people through those clubs, and I’m so glad I decided to sign up for them.

            While it may seem scary to some people, you have to go out of your comfort zone a lot, especially that first weekend on campus. That was one of the biggest obstacles I have faced so far in college. I came from a smaller private high school, and while I was super involved, I was also an introvert. I did know a decent amount of people from my grade school and through getting involved, but going into college I was scared and did not know anyone. Now I am super involved and loving it, but you also must know how much is too much. I learned that this past weekend as I had to quit the hip hop team because it was too time-consuming, and I was running behind in my classes. While you are at college to have a fun time making memories, you are also here to get a degree, and to do that your schoolwork has to be top priority. Stay ahead of the work as much as you can, and do not procrastinate. The campus always has something going on, so I would recommend going to as much as you can.

My sorority induction on November 8.

Should I Get Involved? Yes… and Here’s Why!

            As someone who was afraid to reach out and be involved during high school, I was expecting college to play out the same way. I didn’t do anything other than school my freshman year and slowly worked my way to being involved over the course of the four years. Over the summer, I started looking into different clubs and activities that are offered on campus. I started looking into a sorority, and DECA. Just from looking at the various clubs, I would think to myself “yeah there is no way I’m going to join anything my freshman year.” During GB Welcome when they talked about OrgSmorg, I decided I would go and check it out just to see if anything interested me. I went to four different booths: Zeta Omega Tau, DECA, Hip Hop, and student ambassador. I am now currently involved with three of those four activities. I am pledging for Zeta Omega Tau, I ran for VP of Recruitment in DECA and won, and I made the competition hip hop team.

            I would say going out of my comfort zone and signing up for various activities is the best decision I have made since I came to college. It is undoubtably keeping me extremely busy with practices and meetings, but I am meeting so many more people I would not have met if I did not sign up for these activities. I would recommend signing up for even just activities you think you may enjoy. You will meet so many new people and do so many new things to truly make the most of your college experience right away. While you may want to sign up for the array of activities, just make sure you are not overdoing it to the point you cannot get your schoolwork done. You want to have a great college experience, but you also want to get a degree. If there is one thing you take away from this, it would be get involved to meet new people, but don’t get too involved to the point you don’t get your schoolwork done.My sorority (Zeta Omega Tau) pledge class

What Am I Proud Of?

            College is a very big transitional time for everyone in their lives. A lot of things change with being away from home, going out into the “real world”, living with a roommate. There is so much change and it is sometimes hard to be proud of yourself for handling college. Looking at how I initially handled leaving my
family for college, I am very proud of myself for how far I’ve come. I have been able to go home for at least one day each weekend since classes have started, so I feel like that is easing the leaving home aspect. My roommate and I don’t really talk either, we just kind of live with each other. I don’t really mind as she has her friends and hobbies, and I have my friends and hobbies. I have been good with making friends right away too. My freshman year of high school I only talked to two people I went to grade school with because I was nervous. I got more outgoing throughout high school but was expecting the same freshman year scenario to happen where I don’t talk to anyone. Luckily, that is not the case.

            The biggest thing I would say that is helping me feel more at-home is how involved I am getting on campus. I was very involved for my junior and senior years of high school, so I knew I wanted to get involved right away in college. During OrgSmorg, I signed up for DECA, Zeta Omega Tau sorority, the hip hop team, and to be a student ambassador later this year or next. While I am involved with a lot of extracurricular commitments, I am doing quite well handling the academics. In my opinion, the workload hasn’t been much different compared to how it was at my high school. I am using a color code system that I have been using sine fourth grade for the different days an assignment is due, and with how well it has worked in the past, why would I stop when I got to college? While it has been hard lately to find motivation to get my work done during free time, I tend to remind myself, it will be worth it.

my sorority on bid day