From the Editor's Desk- Incoming Freshmen: Get Involved

Dear readers,

If you're a freshman reading this at orientation, you'll be happy to hear that there is one secret to having a successful collegiate experience, and even happier to hear that I'm going to divulge it to you now.

Get involved.

Yes, it's a cliché, but as with most clichés, that's only because there's no better way to say it.

From the start, my college experience has centered around two things: spending weekends hiking with fellow members of the New Hampshire Outing Club (insert shameless plug for my article on hiking on page 12) and spending weekdays writing articles for The New Hampshire and putting those articles on these pages (insert shameless plug for this column). Sure, I go to all my classes, and I put in my fair share of late nights studying, but that's not where the memories and the friends come from.

If you're like most incoming freshmen, by now you've friended a couple dozen of your classmates on Facebook, convinced that you'll become true friends when classes start. We all did. But things don't work out that way. I've got more than a few friends I've never actually spoken with to attest to that.

Here's the way to make contacts that actually mean something. Before classes start, pick a couple student organizations that sound interesting and keep them at the back of your mind. Don't go crazy with it – an overextended student is no good to any organization. But find a few. There's something for everyone, from acapella groups to Improv Anonymous, from Model UN to Habitat for Humanity, from Film Underground to the College Republicans.   

So when they all come together at Jukebox or the Student Activities Fair, be sure to scrawl your name on a few e-mail lists.

In all likelihood, when you graduate in four years you'll look back on your time at UNH as the best years of your life. But you have to recognize that you play a role in crafting your college experience. Get involved and stay involved. Trust me, it's the secret.

Oh, and go to class. Always a good idea.

Thomas Gounley
Executive Editor