You may not believe this, but I, too, was a freshman. After orientation, I thought the Colgate Hello was a legitimate practice on campus. I would walk around campus like the happy but naive first-year that I was, and I would say "Hi!" to all the people I walked past. I would receive many hellos in return at first; it was great. But then after a few weeks it all went away. When I would say "Hello!", many would be caught off guard, some seemed very confused, and then a tiny few would respond with a smile and a weak "hi." I was baffled; I was lost. Even my roommates asked me about why I kept doing it despite how weird it had gotten. What happened?

I realized the Colgate Hello wasn't as real as I wanted it to be by the time it was October. Perhaps the Colgate Hello is most prominent when every face you see is a new one, however when time passes and you've made new friends, saying hello to most people you walk past isn't as natural as it once was. I must admit that I did give up on the Colgate Hello for a while as well; it got awkward. Although this is unfortunate, it's no reason for me to stop.

I think the Colgate Hello is a great way to make friends. I was able to make several friends during freshman year simply because I got to know them a bit during orientation from just saying hello. The second semester of my freshman year I decided to sit with someone who was eating alone at Frank. The only interactions we'd had, other than a few hellos here and there, was when we met during orientation. When my bagel is being toasted at Frank, and I'm just waiting along with someone else who I don't know, I'm going to say hi and introduce myself. Why should we just stand there in silence, with a little bit of awkward eye contact? When my bagel's getting toasted, or I'm walking up the hill to class, or I'm on the omelette line, I'm going to say hi.

I don't think the Colgate Hello is only good for making friends, though. We all attend Colgate University, and I don't know about you, but I love it here. In many ways, we're just one big family, a community. And hey, sometimes it makes it less awkward just to say hello. I think we've all been there: You're walking down a path in the late afternoon, and the only person you can see is someone else who you don't know walking up the path toward you. You both see each other from afar, but neither of you wants to stare, so you start looking away, maybe even pull out your phone so that you have something to look at. Once you both finally pass each other you can return to normal. So say hello, give a smile, and maybe even a head nod too if you're feeling good!