My first blog post as a sophomore…whoa. It is crazy to think that only one short year ago, I was sitting with my COM Ambassador and wondering what exactly a COM Ambassador was. In fact, I had totally forgotten about the first COM Ambassador meeting, and if I hadn’t passed a friend from orientation on Commonwealth Avenue who reminded me to go, I probably would have missed it altogether. I was an overwhelmed freshman, just like the new students who sat in my Ambassador group a few weeks ago. And just as those freshmen will, I sure have come a long way since then!
Meeting the incoming freshmen/transfers at this year’s welcome event was a blast. I was infinitely impressed by their enthusiasm, and I loved giving them advice and simply getting to know them. It is inspiring to see newcomers embrace an opportunity so thoroughly, and I am lucky to have had a wonderful group of students who seemed to want every resource I could offer. They wanted to try anything, meet everyone, and ask everything, hoping to learn as much as they could to enhance the start of their college experience. I am a firm believer that college is simply what you make of it, and I have no doubt that the newest members of COM will make their experiences incredible.
Personally, their eager willingness to jump into all things COM sparked my own self-evaluation of what I can do to further embrace the college and university I am so fortunate to be a part of. Did I want to try a new club or activity? Did I love all of my classes? Was this still the field I wanted to study? In reassuring the new students that trying tons of things was not only possible but encouraged in COM, I reminded myself that I still have plenty of time to try new things as well! Sure, there are certain deadlines one should keep up with throughout their time in college, such as declaring their major by the time they need to or completing early requirements right away. However, that does not mean it is ever too late to expose oneself to something different. After graduation, despite the potential greatness of “the real world,” our variety of opportunities shrinks with our increasing responsibilities and decreasing amount of extra time. There is no better time to explore new things than right now, while our trials result in something positive no matter how they appear to turn out. Who cares if we try something and hate it? We learn from it and move on to something else, now with a better understanding of our desires and interests.
Aiding the new BU students in their transition to college reminded me that as a college student, there is always a potential “new kid” within me. I should never shy away from a fresh opportunity if it seems interesting, for now is the time in my life best suited for such experiments. I hope that all students, freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors alike, seize the wide array of opportunities Boston University presents to us. This is the best time to explore them, and consequently, this might be the best time to explore ourselves.
