It’s the dead of night, the end of the day. I’ve finally finished all of my homework, went to Caesar-Rodney and ate dinner, and I even procrastinated by playing video games. It’s almost about time for bed, I think to myself. Surely, it must be. I look at my clock – 7:40PM on a Thursday.
How did I end up like this? Night after night, this is my routine, and I oftentimes find myself without something I /have/ to do. A sizeable majority of my friends are the exact opposite – they’re busy, busy, busy, all day, every day. Take, for example, my most packed day – I have class starting at 9:30AM, and go through until about 3:15PM. On the other hand, there’s one of my friends’ most packed days – it starts at 9:00AM, and goes until 6:15PM. There are breaks, of course (I don’t know a single student who would be able to handle nine hours straight of discussions and lectures), but during all those breaks, he says, he’s doing the copious amounts of homework assigned to him.
Why, then, is there such a discrepancy? Why must I be the one to bear the burden of excessive free time? Well, I think it has a lot to do with major. The friend I mentioned has a lot of science classes due to his major, and from what I’ve heard of other science or engineering majors, their schedules are about the same. A boatload of classes, supplemented with labs and homework, leads to a scarcity of free time. I, on the other hand, am a psychology major – a majority of my classes have either no homework or very, very little, and I never have to suffer through another science lab in my life.
I’m made of time, and I fill it in the way that I think every student should try to – with RSOs!
If you’re like me and you’ve been cursed to a major whose classes give you lots of down time, I’d really recommend joining a Registered Student Organization or other extracurricular group. I’m personally involved with Haven, HenMUN, the Honors Planning Board, and my dorm’s Complex Community Council. Each one only meets once a week at most, but they also provide other activities, events, and responsibilities to pass the time with. These kinds of things also look great on resumes and applications, so if you’re looking to go to grad school or get a part time job, you’d do well to consider getting some extracurricular activities under your belt!
Or, of course, you could just go to the Hen Zone and play Overwatch for six hours straight.
…but where’s the fun in that? I mean, aside from the inherent fun present in any and all video games. RSOs can be the source of some of the most fun you’ll ever have at UD – you can go swing dancing with the Swing Club, go on an epic journey with the Honors Adventure Club, or struggle for supremacy on the island of Catan with the Board Game Club! The opportunities are endless, and you’ll meet some great people by showing up to just one meeting.
So this, then, is my challenge to you, O fellow students: go out and try something. You don’t have to found your own club or race for a leadership position; just show up to a meeting. Introduce yourself, get to know the people who love the group you’re exploring, and think to yourself, “Is this a place where I can see myself being?” If the answer is yes, then come back for another meeting, and another, and another. And if it’s no, well then try something else! There’s literally so many groups that I can’t even name an exact figure off the top of my head – you’re bound to find one that works with you.
