CHELSEA GARDNER | STAFF WRITER
On August 9th I moved into NC State University with high expectations for academic life, social life, and extracurricular activities. Since I’ve arrived, I’ve only found one area that has yet to meet up to its promises and that is the extracurricular activities. We were told that NC State offers 400+ clubs and organizations. We were told that within weeks we would find our niche and what we are interested in. But for some of us, that has not been the case.
Early in the school year, we had the opportunity to get information about clubs and organizations but some of us were not reached out too or expected things to be a lot different in terms of involvement. I can even attest to feeling like I had to reach out for more information from clubs instead of the other way around.
With this being said, I realize it is not high school anymore and with a school of 34,000 it is almost impossible to have a central location to post stuff where everyone will see it. But I have yet to see the evidence that there are various clubs out there just waiting for us to get involved in.
So let’s face it: a lot of the freshmen have no idea what’s going on around N.C. State. In the process of transitioning from high school to college, extracurricular activities often get left behind. Without flyers around the hallways and constant reminders via intercom announcements or posts on the school website, freshman are left confused, helpless, and clueless about the year to come. It is hard to come from being super involved to suddenly feeling like you are dropped in the middle of nowhere and have no idea what is going on.
My hopes are that even if they are not being reached out too, freshman students are making the conscious effort to find other means to get involved. It is time for us to take the initiative where others are lacking and leave our mark on this great university. As a future working member of society, we have to build our resumes and getting involved freshman year shows dedication and determination. Entering a world full of freedom and independence is tough but we have to do our research and find what’s right for us, whether the communication is there or not.