There is more to the town, city, or area around your college or university than just your school. Today it is common for students to relocate themselves to a new place for college. With this move, it is easy for students to get absorbed in their school and forget about the people, communities and area around them that do not have a direct connection with the school they attend.

With students in these mindsets, a college campus becomes a microcosm of its own. A bubble swelling with the energy and activity of thousands of young adults who are going through a great period of adventure, personal growth and transition in their lives. At any college campus you go to, you can sense the borders between being on campus and being off.

In my experience, when I go off campus, there is a completely different energy that is less effervescent, convivial, and relaxed. While these bubbles are great in providing students safe places where they feel like they have a community of their own that they belong to, it is also important to pop these bubbles and get engaged with the greater community around you.

One of the most impactful experiences I had in my freshman year was talking to a class that split us up into groups to spend the semester doing a case study-like-project on each of the neighborhoods of the city we go to school in. Since we are in Washington, D.C. this meant eight groups, one for each of the eight wards of the city. Over the course of the semester, each group would present on what they had been finding through research but also hands-on experiences such as taking a trip using public transportation through the ward.

It was so interesting to learn about the unique social issues facing the wards, as well as the demographics and overall history of the different areas of the city. Now, whenever I am going off-campus to other parts of the city, I feel like I have a better connection to the area and am more knowledgeable instead of just being an innocent bystander looking in from the outside on a diverse, tight-knit community.

After taking this class and having more experiences since then that have made me even more aware of the intricacies of the D.C. Community, I wish all students who attend my college and any college for that matter would be required to take a course that gives them an introduction to the place where they go to school. Being able to attend an institution of higher education is a privilege and to be completely ignorant of the area outside of the parts that you have a stake in because you are a student is completely selfish.

The school year should not be like the tourist season for the area surrounding your school. The full-time residents should not have to breathe a sigh of relief when the population of the area decreases by several thousand. College students should take the time to integrate themselves into the area where they go to school by volunteering in the community, babysitting, working or anything that would be considered a positive contribution. This way when May or June comes around the full-time residents are sad to see you leave and your contributions will be missed.

As most of us wrap up our first terms of the school year, I encourage you to think about how in the upcoming term you can get to know the area where you got to school better. Find ways to become engaged as a community member, do research on the area’s history and what may be the issues going on around you.

The benefits you receive from taking the time to do this just might surprise you. You could end up finding a future career path or a home away from home.