How you can’t predict your first semester of college By Riley Vinci

By Riley Vinci

Now that I have been at Syracuse University for a few months now, and my first semester is almost done, I have learned a lot. So much has changed and to be honest, it hasn’t been easy. Here’s what happened and what I will be doing moving forward.

For a little context, I was extremely involved in high school. By my senior year, I was the President of the Drama Club, Concert Choir, and my high school’s morning school. I was also the secretary of National Honor Society, an officer in A Capella, team captain of the Track and Field, and members of many more clubs. Of course this happened gradually over my 4 years of high school, but going from the big fish in a small pond to becoming completely anonymous at SU was a strange thing for me. I knew that I would have to put myself out there and have a fresh start, but it can be really difficult.

To start, Syracuse University is amazing. There is so much to do on campus, and it has something for everyone. I knew this going into the year, but what I didn’t realize was that I had to put myself out there, these things won’t just come to me. Of course, I went to the club fairs and the welcome week events. I didn’t utilize those opportunities to meet other freshmen or look into new activities I hadn’t considered before. I was stuck on continuing things I had done in high school, or activities simply for my career.

I didn’t want to join A Capella groups because of my experience in high school, but what I forgot to realize was that I could meet so many people like me that love music and performing the way I do. I just said no. Now that the groups are performing and having a ball, I have so much FOMO, and I think about all of the friends I could have made from that. This also goes for the choirs I could have joined. I had done research before school about clubs, and found a club that allows non-musical theatre majors to perform in a musical. But, I had no idea it only consisted of interest-meetings and workshops in the first semester, then the actual show process in the second semester, so I think this was a major factor to my lack of joining other musical activities. Because of my musical background, I didn’t think I would want to perform unless it was some kind of musical theatre spiel, but now that I am not involved in any musical activities, I regret my fixed mindset and not looking further into things like A Capella or choir.

Next, I want to dabble in the clubs I did join. I joined a broadcast club that is very popular in the communications school. What I forgot about college is that this is a completely new environment, and I am no longer a known person in the community. I went to a few shows, and had roles in a few. But, when classes started to pick up, and I made friends in my dorm, I started skipping the meetings. This cost me so much time because I missed almost a full month of shows that I could have shadowed and learned new positions, as well as meet upperclassmen and other freshmen who are interested in similar careers to me. Of course, I do not regret focusing on my classes or my personal life, I just wish I would think of the benefits rather than prioritizing what I already had.

Now that my first semester is coming to an end, looking back I wish I had thought more of the long-term outcomes of getting into every activity I could, rather than “adjusting” to the college-life. I believe that getting involved as much as you can is a crucial part of "adjusting" and I have done a much better job in the past few weeks.

I say all of this with a grain of salt, I do wish I would have been more considerate of clubs and organizations earlier on, rather than waiting for me to adapt to college. But with that said, I believe that everything happens for a reason, and I think this period of me focusing on myself and having more free time for myself has helped me realize that clubs and branching out of my comfort zone is so important. I also think that my increase of free time has given me the opportunity to think about what I do want for my college experience and beyond.

I chose to write about this topic so other first year students and future college students can add a little perspective to their “plan” for the first semester. Again, I won’t let this experience affect me in a negative way going forward, I am going to learn from it and grow from this. My advice is to go do things, new and old! See what new things you might like, and do things that you know you love! Be yourself and you will find the right things and people.