Monday, February 15, 2016

Be Not Invisible

So how many of you reading this are still hanging out only with friends from high school, still eating lunch alone in your car, and still heading straight for the parking lot the minute your classes end each day?

How many of you have yet to take part in a class discussion, talk to a professor, meet with an advisor, check out a campus service, go to something fun on campus, or even chat with a classmate?

Not many, I hope.

But if by some chance you recognize yourself here, time to ask yourself why.

Time to ask why you're doing your best to be invisible at NCC, why you're not having more fun in college--and why you're shortchanging your education by failing to make connections with your campus.

I know, I know: Nassau's big and sprawling and maybe overwhelming and confusing at times. All of that traffic, people coming and going in every direction, a sea of unfamiliar faces, can make NCC seem very different from high school, where life was pretty predictable.

But new situations aren't automatically to be feared and avoided.  And life, including college after all, is often about adjusting to new circumstances. For students willing to make those adjustments--to speak up in class, to visit a professor during office hours, to see an advisor if they've questions, to go to a club meeting, to get to know people in their classes--Nassau is anything but scary or anonymous. It can be pretty warm and friendly, in fact.  Nurturing too: a network of professors, classmates, and others can make students feel right at home.

We all know that successful college students make school a priority, go to class regularly, keep up with assignments, prepare in advance for exams, and--in short--take their education seriously.  Along the way, they also make connections--academic, social, and personal--with people in their midst. They get to know professors, advisors, and classmates. They join clubs and go to campus events. They work with a tutor if they need extra help in a class. They see a counselor if they need information or advice or even just a sympathetic ear.

Invisible they're not.

Don't you be either.

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