I’m pretty sure you’ve all been given the entire, “get involved” speech before, but I’d like to put a special twist on it.

Here’s some background information about me: I am a sophomore at Adelphi University. I major in biology, minor in psychology, and I’m in the Levermore Global Scholars program. I work on campus as a Writing Tutor at The Writing Center, a Student Writer in The Office of the President, a writer for The Odyssey Online, and a writer for Punk Mouth. I am the secretary of the Muslim Student Association, the secretary of the Levermore Global Scholars Student Leadership Council, and an active member of the South Asian Student Association.

Most people who tell you to get involved usually tell you to do so for too many generic reasons, but here are some of my examples that make these generic reasons quite personal.

It’ll help you meet new people.

I’m not going to lie, I think the club that helped me meet some of my closest friends is the Muslim Student Association. When I walked into the first meeting, I had no idea that I would talk to the members on a regular basis, hang out with them, and just have a good time in general outside of the meetings. I went from not knowing the President of the club to going on spontaneous Starbucks dates with her to talk about school and life. She (Gabbie) is one of my closest friends today.

It’ll look good on your resume and graduate school applications.

Before I got involved at Adelphi, my resume was empty except for a few major things I did here and there in high school. Now, I can’t even fit all my current activities on one page. Also, grad schools want to see that you’ve been busy during your college life. Grades are important, but would a school accept someone if all they did was go to class, go home, and repeat? No, they want to accept students that will help their school (along with themselves) grow.

You’ll be more popular on campus if you’re more involved.

This is simple logic. The more you go out and expose yourself to different people, the more you’ll be known. If you go to four different club meetings a week, that’s four different groups of people who know you at least by face and know something that you like, since you’re at a club meeting for an interest.

You’ll get to explore your likes and dislikes.

I spent my first year at Adelphi as a member of the Chemistry Club. It was very fun at first, but as the year went by, I realized that my interest for chemistry was fading, and if I didn’t enjoy the fun side of it, who is to say that I’ll enjoy every other side of it? Joining Chemistry Club ultimately helped me change my major from Biochemistry to Biology. If you join a club about something you’re familiar with, you’ll find out how you feel about it later on. Who knows, you might even join a random club and end up loving it!