Why get Involved?

By: Cassie Christopherson

Coming to Texas A&M for the first time can be very intimidating if you do not know very many people. It is even more difficult if you are from out of state because students who went to high school together automatically come to Texas A&M with a niche that they created in high school making it more difficult to plug in.

That is why student organizations are so important. If it were not for Fish Camp, Transfer Camp, Flo’s, and other organizations such as Off Campus Aggies, it would be very hard to fit in and obtain the whole college experience. So why is it so important to get plugged into an organization?

First, organizations are, for the most part, a smaller family within the larger Texas A&M family. This is very important because leaving your family for the first time is hard. While most of us are ready to leave our families behind and start our lives, there is always some hesitation if not when you leave, then when you get to college and you are finally on your own. Within this family, you will make friends that you will have for the rest of your life, friends that will be there for you through thick and thin, that you will experience first time college privileges with and friends that you will share many great laughs with. While you may not find a best friend right away, you will at least find friends that will keep you company and vice versa. And trust us, there will be times when you will need that company.

Second, organizations on campus are a great way to get your foot in the door with careers. Not only will you meet a lot of new friends but the majority of the time organizations have guest speakers who are very important people or who know very important people in our community. By getting involved, you are allowing others to see what your strengths are and improve your weaknesses, that way when you do get the interview you’ve always wanted, you can safely and confidently sell yourself to the company.

Third, getting involved in student organizations is a great way to voice your opinion. Think about it, you are one of 45,000+ students. And while the leaders of our school say that they are very concerned about what the students want, how often can you actually go to one and voice what you think. The majority of the time, it takes more than one person to be heard. And that is not just in college but in the workforce as well. If you get enough people together to voice a concern about something, the leaders cannot just ignore that. Think how great it would be to be apart of a movement across campus. To look back 15 years from now and say, “Hey I was apart of that!”