Joining Suffolk my freshman year my main goal was to make new friends. At the Temple Street Fair (now Plaza Palooza) I went to every table possible. Joining organizations on campus seemed like a very daunting task as a small freshman among a large amount of upperclassmen.
As I approached some of the tables, seeing people I have seen at orientation and around campus I became more eager and less intimidated. Seeing an orientation leader and other familiar faces made joining organizations easier and more inviting.
That day I signed up to join Theta Phi Alpha, Suffolk’s Dance Company, Student Government Association and a few other organizations.
Student Government Association was not on my list of what I wanted to sign up for going into Temple Street. When I walked past the table the then treasurer took an election packet and handed it to me. He told me “sit in your common room and if you do not get 25 signatures then you don’t have to run.”
That afternoon I sat in my common room and as people walked by I asked them to sign my election packet. About an hour after doing that I already had more than half of the signatures I needed to run. After getting all of my signatures needed to run I finished filling out my election packet and handed it in. A couple of days later I found out I could start campaigning and won a spot as a senator for my class.
Around the same time, I was going to recruitment events for Theta Phi Alpha. Going to recruitment events I felt like I was right at home! Theta Phi was where I wanted to be! On the last day of recruitment, I got a call saying that Theta Phi Alpha wanted to extend me a bid to be a sister. This was one of the best calls I had received. I was so excited to start being a sister.
Also around the same time I tried out for the Suffolk University Dance Company. For me dance had always been a huge part of my life. Even though I did not make the Dance Company trying out was an amazing experience.
As the semester went on I joined the Journey program and learned about all the opportunities that it has to offer.
By second semester Freshman year I was already involved in the Student Government Association, Theta Phi Alpha, and the Journey program.
My sophomore year was pretty much the same as far as organizations were concerned, I was focused more on how to manage the organizations I was already a part of.
Junior year was a different story. Before junior year started I had joined the Odyssey on top of being in Student Government, Theta Phi, and Journey.
A couple weeks into junior year I got a letter in the mail telling me I could join The National Society for Leadership and Success.
Being in five organizations as well as working part-time and being a full time student is a lot of work for a junior getting ready to take the LSATs.
Being very involved on campus requires extremely good time management skills. Making sure organizations don’t meet at the same time or require work to be done at a certain time are big parts of the time management skills needed to be very involved on campus.
Even though I would not recommend joining a large amount of organizations, I think it is extremely important to be involved on a campus, especially one that is generally small and a majority of the students are commuters.
