After returning to school from a fun filled summer many students find themselves in the midst of a month that is truly unforgettable. Whether students are returning as upperclassmen, coming back to the place they call home from a summer away, or driving up highway 540 by themselves for the first time to their first year of college, an Arkansas August truly beholds just about everything great about our great state. I don’t think anyone wouldn’t attest that the drive into our beloved Fayetteville is anything short of spectacular. Coming to campus in August geared up and ready to go makes for a killer beginning of anyone’s time here. An Arkansas August is an exciting time of the year.

In Arkansas, August is unique, and in a very biased opinion, very superior to most others. August is the month that has the most change, the most new experiences, and usually the beginning of something great.  August is the start of school and classes, but it’s also so much more than that.  An Arkansas August is pure happiness.

Most everyone says that you get as much out of something that you put in.  In this case, it is 100 percent true.  Attitudes really are everything, and campus in August is truly a testament to that. People are excited and pumped to start fresh.  Campus becomes a social event in between classes with mini reunions, carnivals and events.  It’s a time that people smile and greet one another even when they are headed to a three-hour lab. An Arkansas August truly does bring out the best version of many people.

August is the time of year that freshman get to start over and leave their high school self behind.  It’s a time of new friends and mentors.  Many get to experience community bathrooms for the first time and learn how to live in close quarters with someone they’ve never hung out with before. It’s the perfect time to recreate yourself and become the person that you’ve always thought you might be. Closing doors to something comfortable and something that you’ve always known might be hard, but those hard decisions can turn into something that you’ve never even thought was possible.  For example, people’s greatest friends come from the dorms, or their newly found pledge class, they discuss a new found love for politics, fashion, or medicine that can turn into a career that their passionate about, or even something as silly as dying the tips of your hair blonde just because its midnight and there’s nothing better to do.

Sororities were eager to meet a new pledge class and show them what this part of college is all about.  Recruitment week is the perfect time to meet new friends within your own chapter and create relationships with potential new members. A new state, city and home along with recruitment makes the perfect formula for freshman to build relationships. Joining a sorority gives freshman instant friends and tons of smiles from all around campus on the first day of classes.  Instant friends aside, being a part of something that is so much bigger than just a few sorority sisters gives freshman the opportunity to network, volunteer and create forever friends.

After recruitment, still sleep deprived, and running off pure excitement and adrenaline, classes begin.  Freshman partake in “Syllabus Week” while upperclassmen, green with envy, start lectures, labs and readings.  Along with all the fresh starts mentioned above, August is a blank canvas for your academics.  Many of us start off the school year in August with commitment to attending class, do all assigned readings and studying even when the test is weeks away.  So, in this way, August is the season of motivation.

Speaking of seasons, August is usually the season of humidity, sultry and sweat. Us Greeks were thankful for cooler weather for Spirit Week and recruitment.  In any case, walking up the hill between HPER and Brough is going to make you a little sticky. 

With a late start to school, recruitment over, and classes underway, people all over the state get a little crazy planning their BBQ feast and brainstorming ways to be able to watch "ESPN Game Day" under a tent.  Arkansas Razorback football is a highlight in the month of August.  Woo Pig Sooie and August goes together like milk and cookies.  There’s no better way to spend an August Saturday than at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

It’s crazy to think how much goes on in August.  From new friends, new classes, new things to do comes a new beginning for many of us.  An Arkansas August is a crazy and stressful time, and time of complete change in one’s life, but it is a true testament to who we are as Razorbacks. August is a great time to be the change you wish you were yesterday, last month, and last year. It truly is just the beginning, and I know my fellow razorbacks are ready keep treading along in the months to come.