Emily F: Advice for First Years

There’s a lot of advice I would give to first-year students. The first year at college can be a lot, especially at a school as big as Boston University. However, there’s one piece of advice I would give any student who asked: Step out of your comfort zone.
This is something that I learned as a first-year, and it has impacted lots of clubs and extracurriculars I do on campus. The first one of these is Stage Troupe, the drama group I’m in on campus. I love acting, so when I first started at BU I auditioned for all of the shows the drama groups were putting on, but I didn’t get cast in any. I still wanted to be involved in theater, and there were sign-ups open to do tech for the shows. The issue was, I’ve never done tech for anything before, and I was very nervous that my inexperience would be a problem. Despite this, I signed up to do tech for two shows. Looking back, this was one of the best decisions I made when I joined the club. I have since done tech for nine shows, one of which I tech directed (which meant I was in charge of all the tech going on for the show). Even though I had no experience going in, I ended up learning a lot and having a great time, and I also made some amazing friends. Now, I was recently cast in a show for BU Shakespeare Society, so I am stepping out of my new comfort zone to be on stage for a show this semester.
BUTV10 was another club that made me step out of my comfort zone. I had never done anything related to filming before, except taking pictures with my mom’s camera when I was younger. But, I really wanted to be a part of a TV show on campus. I decided to join one, and found myself incredibly nervous, but also excited. Within the first day on set, I was recording sound for a scene, and holding the boom mic. Throughout the semester, I helped in many ways during the shoots, mainly by recording sound or using the slate, which meant I read off the scene number and closed the clapboard. The next semester, I was the show’s Script Supervisor, which meant I followed the script during the shoot to take notes and make sure all the lines were hit, and the next two semesters I was the Head of Marketing, so I was in charge of social media for the show. I would not have had these amazing experiences with the show if I hadn’t put myself out there during my first semester, and I am incredibly grateful that I was able to be a part of the show.
Stepping out of my comfort zone has brought me so many amazing experiences, and my years at BU would not be the same without this.