At college, you are exposed to so many different people. People from different states, maybe even countries, people with different cultural backgrounds, and people with different ideas about life. This can be a huge benefit to yourself, and others; learning about other people, opening your mind, and discovering a new group of friends/ colleagues. We are all so open to these new experiences when we get to college, but that mindset does not change us in the ways that it should.

When we come into college, everyone, for the most part, has a very open mind about meeting new people and finding friends. We meet a bunch of people from our dorm, join new clubs and sports, and talk to pretty much anyone who also has an open mind about talking to us. However, after we find our group of "people," we quickly forget about how we were just so open to everyone. We form our friend groups and then forget about getting to know others and forming even more relationships. We then only talk to and associate with this friend group, many times ignoring all of the other people on campus. This I see as a huge issue.

At college, we should be challenged to expand our knowledge and grow in every way possible, this including our receptiveness to other people. At the beginning, most of us are pretty open, but the fact that this usually doesn't last through the four years is detrimental. We should adopt the way that we came into college as a new part of our lives; always trying to meet and engage with people we may not know or may not talk to often.

We go to college to learn and grow, we start off doing pretty well, but then turn back to our old ways of cliques and associating with our friend groups only. Any new people in our classes that are sitting alone will continue to sit alone because we only associate with our friends. The majority of us don't say hi, make eye contact, or smile at people we do not know, creating an environment full of distance and isolation.

This connects directly to our views in today's society, being close-minded, unfriendly and isolated from others. It is not very often that you find yourself having a conversation with a stranger, making small talk with a barista or find someone smiling at you for no reason at all. Maybe when you come into college, but after some time all of these acts disappear.

I'd like to challenge you, instead of only talking to people you normally talk to, try talking to someone you don't know. Smile at people you aren't close with, and be receptive to the new people that may enter your world. Pretend that every day of your life you are a freshman in college again, being open to others and never shutting people out that you don't know. You never know what benefits it may bring to your life or the benefits you could bring to others!