Students should get involved with the many clubs and activities on campus. Illustration by Dan Evans.
A new school year marks a new start for many students. The beginning of the fall semester is a great time for students to create school year resolutions. Students promise themselves that they are actually going to use the expensive planner they purchased. They are not going to sleep in and be late to their morning classes, regardless of how tired they are. They are also going to complete all assigned readings before they are discussed in class.
However, students rarely make the resolution to be more involved on campus, and it is fairly simple to understand why. Being involved on campus cannot be measured. Students cannot track their on-campus involvement in a notebook, and they are not immediately rewarded for putting in their time and effort. For this reason, busy college students quickly forget how important being involved on campus really is.
Student involvement is a great way for students to meet new people who have similar interests. Though organizations usually market toward incoming freshmen, all students are welcome to join. Montclair State offers a wide array of organizations to get involved in as well as a great amount of activites throughout the semester.
For example, future accountants may be interested in joining The Accounting Society, or a movie lover may want to catch a weekend movie in University Hall. Finding individuals with similar interests can help students network and can lead to great friendships.
On-campus involvement is not only a great way to meet people, but also a great way to start building a résumé. Montclair State offers a handful of honor societies for students to boast about on their résumé. Also, nearly all on-campus organizations have some kind of leadership board. This is a great way to network and improve upon the skills employers are looking for, like organization, creativity and teamwork.
Some organizations, like Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), even provide students with field experience, which can be especially impressive to future employers.
Montclair State also provides students with the opportunity to attend workshops on various topics, from creating an online presence to preparing for a big interview.
However, being involved is much more than having friends and experience after graduation— it is just flat-out fun. In order to keep Montclair State the place to be, students need to stay involved. During the first week of the semester, students are always super excited to get involved. The quad is bustling with activities and everyone is smiling. The organization fair in the quad on the first day of class, complete with a DJ and free snacks, proved that Montclair State students want to be involved.
We just need to keep this passion through the entirety of the school year. Montclair State is a great place, but it can easily become boring when we only go to class and immediately go home.
Students form the community at Montclair State University. With that in mind, we can determine what kind of community we want to form. Complaining does not create change; only action can create change. So get involved, seek out some change and make Montclair State a better place.
