For the first week of our FYE course, we discussed our campus and community involvement at Georgia Southern. We also discussed what the word "engage" meant to us.
"Engage"
In class, we were split up into pairs to discuss the word "engage" meant. As you'd expect, most of our responses were like the textbook definition. The majority of us said that it meant to be involved, interested, and actively participating. All of our responses were generally the same, it sparked a class discussion that got us to talk about how we interact with the people and environment around us.
Being Engaged In Campus Life
Once the discussion had shifted to talking about how we interact with our community, we began to realize everything that's available to us around campus. Everyone began to contribute the things they did to engage around campus. There was a wide range that included just about everything from intramural sports to sororities and fraternities. You could see that we were all beginning to find our place in this college community. I, personally, have found that I enjoy playing intramural ultimate frisbee and can already see how many connections and friendships the sport has afforded me, and it's only been a week.
(Here's me at ultimate frisbee with my friend)
While it's great to be involved in things you love, you still need to make sure you're managing your time and not overloading yourself with too much. I especially have a hard time turning down plans when my friends invite me somewhere, but if I went with them everywhere I was invited, I would never get any school work done. As mentioned by Omid Safi in "The Disease of Being Busy," everyone nowadays is being pulled in a million different directions and loading themselves down with too much. He mentions in the article that it's important to remember that you're still a human being and you need to give yourself time to breath. https://onbeing.org/blog/the-disease-of-being-busy/
Personal Reflection
My main goal while here at Georgia Southern is to be successful. And by that, I mean I want to do well in my classes without having to give up having a social life. The main challenge that comes with that is learning how to manage my time, but I also have to learn how to effectively use it. I hope to improve my time management by attending the seminar on September 11 that's supposed to help the attendees learn how to effectively balance their schedules. As far as succeeding within my classes, I plan to use the tutoring services offered to us to my full advantage. My goal is to go and ask for help with any assignment as soon as I need it. I'm even more determined to do so after reading Alina Tugend's "Why Is Asking For Help So Difficult," in which she delves into the reasons why many people are so hesitant to ask for help. After seeing that she pointed out the fact that most people will avoid asking for help to avoid being embarrassed, I'm going to try my best to ignore my pride and seek help as needed.
While I try to balance my school and social life throughout college, I know the relationships I form with the people I meet will be one of the most important things about college. Whether it be a relationship with a professor that affords me the opportunity to get an internship or a good letter of recommendation or just a simple friendship formed that gives me someone to tell my problems to, my interaction and experiences with the people around me are going to be what sticks with me the most from college.
