During freshman orientation, you constantly hear the phrase "get involved." Your upperclassman friends say it, your orientation leaders say it, the president of your college says it, pretty much everyone says it. You start to wonder, why does everyone want me to get so involved? Can't I just enjoy college and relax...it's my first time away from my parents? I guarantee you, you're not the only person having these thoughts. There are many reasons why getting involved is important in college. We can start with the obvious one: getting involved means keeping yourself busy, which then means not missing your parents or your high school friends or your high school sweetheart. However, there is more to getting involved than just keeping yourself busy.

Getting involved in college gives you the opportunity to meet a magnitude of people. One thing that makes college special is that you have the opportunity to meet people that you probably would never have met otherwise. Whether it be someone of a different race, a different religion or just different interests, you are meeting new people. And the best way to meet new people is to get involved.

I can only speak for myself, but I definitely grew up in a town with little diversity. Coming to college gave me the opportunity to meet people that I would have never met in my hometown and I only had the opportunity to meet them because I got involved on campus. It is so important in growing as an individual to surround yourself with people who are different than you. Surrounding yourself with different types of people allows you to grow as a person by learning more about who you are, but also by learning about different religions, races, cultures, etc.

So I urge you to get involved, even just to go to a club meeting that sparks your interest. You don't have to go with any of your friends because that's the beauty of getting involved-- you get to make new friends and meet new types of people. Getting involved is so important in college, and I hope you realize it sooner rather than later, because before you know it, you'll be the one telling the little baby freshmen to get involved.