More Things I Like About College
I probably could have returned to college several years sooner, if I had been willing to go the 100% online route. I wasn't. Online schools been a great avenue for several of my friends, but for me, at least half of my classes needed to be in person.
I'm glad I did it this way. The main purpose for having a campus is that I wanted a place to get involved, to feel like school was a home away from home. I chose wisely, because that has definitely been the case here. There are plenty of things to do on campus.
Getting involved: I applied for and was selected for a group, this upcoming year I'm the chair. I enjoy getting to know administration, faculty and staff-and I love knowing all the people in the administration building. I worked on the play and have another in the works for the coming year.
Making friends: An unofficial goal was to make at least one friend in each class. A benefit to our small campus is that there are less students and we tend to interact a lot more than the Tampa campus (but I've made friends there, too).
This semester, I had a five hour gap between classes on Thursdays. Instead of driving twenty miles home and back (and wasting an hour), I'd stay on campus. As the semester progressed, my classmates/friends figured out the location of my preferred study spot and soon, they would trickle in and we'd spend time before class studying, especially before those tests. It was great to brainstorm the week's assignment with others.
And this week being a semester break, you'd think that things would be quiet on the school front. Instead, I've been helping out with orientations for incoming students, chatting with a friend on Facebook to find out how her school related community service in El Salvador is going, talking on the phone with another friend as much as we were all semester long and playing Lexulous with a former (and future) professor. Finally, between her and Janet, I've got people who will play Scrabble with me!.
Part of me asks why I didn't do this sooner, since I'm getting so much more out of this experience than I've put in. Perhaps I needed to wait, so that I would have this experience with these people.
I'm glad I did it this way. The main purpose for having a campus is that I wanted a place to get involved, to feel like school was a home away from home. I chose wisely, because that has definitely been the case here. There are plenty of things to do on campus.
Getting involved: I applied for and was selected for a group, this upcoming year I'm the chair. I enjoy getting to know administration, faculty and staff-and I love knowing all the people in the administration building. I worked on the play and have another in the works for the coming year.
Making friends: An unofficial goal was to make at least one friend in each class. A benefit to our small campus is that there are less students and we tend to interact a lot more than the Tampa campus (but I've made friends there, too).
This semester, I had a five hour gap between classes on Thursdays. Instead of driving twenty miles home and back (and wasting an hour), I'd stay on campus. As the semester progressed, my classmates/friends figured out the location of my preferred study spot and soon, they would trickle in and we'd spend time before class studying, especially before those tests. It was great to brainstorm the week's assignment with others.
And this week being a semester break, you'd think that things would be quiet on the school front. Instead, I've been helping out with orientations for incoming students, chatting with a friend on Facebook to find out how her school related community service in El Salvador is going, talking on the phone with another friend as much as we were all semester long and playing Lexulous with a former (and future) professor. Finally, between her and Janet, I've got people who will play Scrabble with me!.
Part of me asks why I didn't do this sooner, since I'm getting so much more out of this experience than I've put in. Perhaps I needed to wait, so that I would have this experience with these people.
Comments