Coming into college, especially at Texas A&M, I felt frantic. Frantic to find friends, frantic to decide what organization to join, frantic to find my home away from home – to find where I belonged. As part of that, I decided to apply for some Freshmen Leadership Organizations, or FLOs for short. One of these was one I honestly applied to strictly for two reasons. Number one, I liked service and that’s what they were all about. Number two, and mainly this reason, a friend from home had been in it the year before and heavily recruited me. Never in my wildest dreams, though, would I not only get into it but also fall in love with it.

Memorial Student Center Freshmen In Service and Hosting (aka MSC FISH) is the organization that captured my heart in a mere eight months. It’s an organization that’s main goal is comprised of three things: serving Texas A&M and the surrounding Bryan-College Station area, building the freshmen into better leaders, and cultivating a community of family for the freshmen as they enter college. While I could go on and on about the countless events we put on and projects we organize, or I could spit out numbers for you, I won’t do that (except we do get 5,000 hours of service every year – what?!). I mainly want to touch on why this FLO stands out from all the rest.

In MSC FISH, they work extremely hard to ensure that anything they do and anyone they touch are left better than they found them. What I mean by that is this organization never settles for mediocrity. It is a group of people who are passionate about the “room for improvement.” Any opportunity they have to make something better they do it. Whether that be trying to make the group as tight knit as possible or restructuring the organization year to year – if they believe in their hearts it will make the best experience possible, they are all in.

With that said, the people who are in it are honestly and sincerely some of the most incredible, compassionate, hilarious, intelligent people I have met in my entire life. FISH is one giant group of roughly 100 people who have a fire in their hearts to serve others and I think perhaps that is a reason why by the end of the year, it is more than an organization – it’s a family. This common thread of passion for service is what helps fabricate the family that I am proud to say surrounds me today.

I have met the best friends of my life in this organization. Every single person in FISH is so creative, so talented, so quirky, and so beautiful inside and out. It is a place that has taught me valuable lessons that I will carry with me the rest of my life – it has molded me into a more compassionate, selfless, driven person. I am tearing up while writing this because I am so happy that I can say I found it. I found my friends, I found my organization, I found my home away from home. All because I listened to my friend and trusted their advice. To them I say thank you, you were right.

As my time in this organization comes to a close – this week, actually, that’s still so unreal – I just wanted to shed a light on the group that rocked my world. Everyone in FISH is a life changer and I can’t wait to sit back and watch how they continue to change lives throughout the rest of our time at Texas A&M. To everyone in the special little family tucked away in the MSC: thank you for accepting me, thank you for loving me, thank you for growing me. I love you all more than you will ever know. While I am still able to say it for these last couple of days…MSC FISH YOU WISH, YOU WISH. Peace and blessings, y’all.