Dear Freshmen,

Take advantage of every opportunity. You have almost, almost survived your first semester of college. How exciting!

Actually, before you go on reading this, take a minute and pat yourself on the back.

Did you?

Okay, now we can continue. So yeah, opportunities.

It’s common for freshmen to take their first semesters to get used to the course load. But by the time you reach your spring semester, it’s time to begin to dip your toes into the great worlds of organizations, club, ministries, and internships. You may think that because we attend such a small, Christian University that there are not many opportunities to take advantage of during your time here.

You would be so wrong.

Our school is roughly 3 times smaller than my high school. There is no arguing that we are a very small campus, but it is because of this that we have a certain advantage.

Big college campuses like Penn State or UPenn may have more national recognition, and therefore more money, but this does not at all diminish the opportunities that you have here.

Your professors know you. While some of you may feel that you do not want them to know who you are, this is the biggest blessing that a school can truly offer. Because our classroom settings can often be as small as ten people (LIT 452 anyone?), our professors have the chance to not only match names to faces, but understand the personalities and the interests that make those faces light up. They have the chance to learn the passions and goals of their students, as opposed to only having a vague memory of your face in the lecture hall.

And since they have the chance to learn who we are and what we want to do after school, they help bridge the gap between our reality and our aspirations. Speaking as a junior of the B.A. English crowd, I can certainly say I have been given my fair share of opportunities. Actually, I only became in English major after Professor Dunlap told me how she saw talent in my writing while taking her English Comp course. That was back in the day when I was 17 and undeclared because I had no clue what I was going to do with my life.

Since freshman year, I have decided (as much as one can anyway) that I want to pursue a career in proofreading or editing. This has lead to offers to edit multiple people’s books and papers, along with the suggestion that I should write for The Scroll (hence why I am writing this article right now). At Professor Palladino’s suggestion, I have also been given the opportunity to help coordinate a “Poetry Out Loud” competition at a local school. And this is not to puff myself up and tell you how many opportunities I have been given because of how smart I am; I am saying this in spite of the fact that I know there are smarter people in my major who are more fit for the task. I really have to believe that I would not have had these opportunities if I was on a larger campus. I thank each of my professors who have taken their time to help guide me in the direction that I want to go when I leave this campus.

All of this to say, take advantage of what God has given you at this school. Get to know your professors and build relationships with them! You shouldn’t do this just because you hope that you might get something out of them, but the longer you build those relationships the more they will be able to recommend you to someone at the proper time.

If you are an English major, write for The Scroll. Blatant plug for this paper, but really it is great place to creatively and freely practice writing. If you’re a business major, join Enactus. There are clubs and organizations all around campus that you can be a part of that relate to your major or your passions, and because we are a small campus you can be involved in all of them. There is no cap to how many people can join, so feel free to try out different organizations and see which ones suit you best. They also come in handy when it’s time to build that resume.

Basically, continue to love this school. The worst thing that you can do is stay uninvolved and uncommitted (is that not how most romantic relationships end?). You’re here for the next four years; enjoy every moment that you spend on this campus. Build relationships with the people around you. Take advantage of every opportunity.

Love,

Lydia