Taking Advantage of Your College Environment

Hello Everyone!

I didn't get a chance to write up a post last week, and for that I do apologize, so for this post I'll combine two topics in a super-post I'll call "Taking Advantage of Your College Environment."

The first subtopic I'll be addressing is Campus Services. Most students are aware of at least a few of the campus services available to them such as an activity center and a health center, but there are usually many different services that many students never hear of. These services can include:

• a post office
• Multicultural/Diversity center
• Career Center
• Counseling Center
• Study abroad office
• Student escort service 
• Notary
• Discounted tickets
• Women's Center

I encourage all students, particularly incoming freshmen, to investigate all of the services that your school offers and take advantage of them since you're already paying for them with your tuition and fees.

Now, I'll move on to my second topic: Getting to Know Your New Environment. This extends beyond becoming familiar with the campus to learning about the surrounding areas. It doesn't matter where your college is, there will always be interesting and fun things to do in the city/town. Go try out some local restaurants and shops and explore museums and local history. When I was in High School, I participated in a summer college program at the University of Mississippi. It's located in the quaint college town of Oxford, MS, and over the month I had getting to explore campus with my new friends. While seeing everything on campus was neat (the Grove was AWESOME), I think I had the most fun while exploring Oxford. One day I took a trip with a small group of friends out to see William Faulkner's home and on the way back to campus, we stopped in a local restaurant to snack on some chips and salsa, and that turned out to be one of the most memorable days of that entire summer.

It's incredibly important to like the city your college is in, because that's where you're going to (hopefully) be spending the next four years of your life, and while many freshmen like to stay on campus as much as they can to get fully immersed in the college experience, by their junior or senior year they've become bored because they've exhausted all of the entertainment available to them on campus. You'd be surprised by just how much there is to do in surrounding areas, so do some research or ask some people who live in the area (like maybe your professors... here's your chance to practice those Academic Communication Skills!).


I hope you found this post helpful and informative! Next week (or hopefully sometime later this week) I'll be talking about managing your college environment including ways to avoid procrastination and get through midterms without a hitch, so please check back soon! Thanks for reading!