Throughout my college career, I have been asked by students younger than me “What’s the best way to balance academic work and extracurriculars?”. In response, I would make up a somewhat-great piece of wisdom. However, I felt like it wasn’t enough. This week I sat down with one of my best friends, Jackie Rich ‘21. Jackie is a biology major and french minor, and is also receiving a 5-college certificate in Marine Sciences. In addition, Rich is a SAW Mentor, admissions tour guide, board member of the Jewish Student Union, lab assistant to a MHC bio professor, member of the SCC (was a chair last year), and is also involved in the theatre productions and senate at school. From our discussion together, I have taken away 4 key points.
1. “Commit yourself to a level of involvement that feels right to you.”
Jackie and I were discussing how during our orientation we were given the advice not to join a lot of orgs. While this advice is true, it can vary from person to person. You could be someone like Jackie, who by being extroverted and always open to meeting new people joins many clubs, or me, who is introverted and only joins one club to not overcommit.
2. “Communication is KEY!”
This is something to keep in mind, especially for student organization leaders. When joining an organization, keep in mind that academics come first. Communicate with fellow org members if you can’t come to a meeting or other org event because of a paper or exam. For JSU, Jackie and the other board members ask non-board members to come and help set up for events if they are short on people.
3. “Be patient.”
Whether you are a first year or a returning student, it is important when starting a new school year not to jump into anything new right away. Get yourself secured with your new classes and schedule. Once you have figured out the structure and workload of your classes, then you can fully commit to student organizations. Also, finding the right organization for you takes time, so go to some meetings to see what the atmosphere of the organization is like.
4. “Be open to change.”
Typically, college will have a lot more extracurricular options than high school. Sometimes students will go into college with certain interests and join student organizations that cater to those interests. What can then happen is the student organization doesn’t meet their expectations. “Be open to change” is an important mantra to Jackie and I because we both realized that college is a time to grow and find yourself.
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