Making the Most of Your Life Beyond the Classroom

You’ve learned about Baylor traditions and adjusting to life on a new campus, but have you turned into a circus performer yet? Yes, you read that correctly- have you turned into a circus performer yet? You know, a person who juggles multiple things at one time, or who keeps all of the plates spinning on tiny sticks, or who walks the tight rope without a care in the world. Chances are, you haven’t done that literally, but you may be considering it figuratively. Perhaps you are considering an internship or the addition (or change) of a major or minor to more fully satisfy your personal goals. Perhaps you have already joined, or considered joining, some student organizations, or you might still be sitting on the side of the circus ring, waiting to join the action. Let me give you a few tips and tricks for making your transition to circus performer, that is, to a well-rounded student, a little bit easier.

Circus performers and savvy students know that they need balance to perform well. You need to know what to look for in an organization, as well as where to look. The fountain in the Vera Martin Daniel Plaza across from the SUB represents a balanced life and is engraved with the words “Intellectual,” “Physical,” “Social,” and “Spiritual.” A good rule of thumb to follow when joining organizations is to make sure they help you to address one (or more) of those areas in life, and to not overdo one area at the expense of another. Baylor offers many organizations for each of those categories. You will also want to consider whether you desire to spend time with like-minded students or leave your comfort zone and try something new. If seeking out like-minded students, you could consider joining one of the professional organizations or honor societies tied to your major. These kinds of organizations can be beneficial to you both at Baylor and in your professional, post-college life. If you want to try something new, go for it-you will never again have as many opportunities in one place to try things out as you do in college. Professional and family life will fill your time after college ends, and you won’t always have the accessibility to groups that will teach you new skills in, say, Latin Dance or Karate. Perhaps you would also like to incorporate travel into your student experience. Baylor offers access to over 70 study abroad/exchange programs scattered across the globe. To start exploring your options, try using Student Activities’ website that includes a searchable index of all 250+ organizations on Baylor’s campus, and attend a study abroad fair. Also, this is the time of the semester when organizations are holding informational meetings for prospective new members. Pay attention to the meeting notices around campus and visit a few groups: becoming familiar with all of your choices will help you determine what to join.

Once you have an idea of what you’d like to join, you need to remember a few key things before beginning your “performance.” Anything you do outside of classes, whether tied to an organization or not, is an extracurricular activity. Your first duty and responsibility while at Baylor is to be the best student you can be. This means you need to consider how much time, after accounting for class attendance and study hours, you can actually give to one or more extracurricular activities. If you can’t join every group you are interested in during a particular semester, consider trying one activity in the fall and another in the spring so that you can still get the breadth and depth of experience and exposure that you desire. Also, when you are involved in an organization, it is okay to say “no” to an event if you must: after all, your studies take first priority. That being said, you will get more out of your student organization affiliation if you do invest time in it, so participate by attending meetings and events regularly. You also don’t want to spread yourself so thin that you are exhausted and mentally drained. It would be better to strive for a leadership position in one organization than join five or six groups and never find your niche in any of them. So, give due consideration to these variables and then move forward.

No matter how skilled they become, successful circus performers (and students) should seek out continual improvement and feedback from more-seasoned veterans. It is best to find a mentor (or several) who will help you connect what you are learning in the classroom to how you are developing as an individual. Take advantage of the faculty and staff members here at Baylor; I have yet to meet a colleague who wasn’t interested in helping students reach their full potential. Spend time talking with your professors and with the sponsors of any organizations you join: they each have a story about how they became who they are, and sometimes it is in the sharing of the stories of others that we discover new directions for our own plots. If you are not sure that your major and minor are the right fit for you, work with the team in the Career Counseling office. They will help you assess how your values, interests, and personality type can shape your career exploration process. As you begin thinking of another upcoming transition in your life, the transition to becoming a professional, you may want to consider pursuing one or more internships. The office of Career Services offers lots of guidance and assistance to students who are searching for internships and who wish to polish their resumes and interview skills. As you engage professionals in your chosen field of study, you will be better equipped to put the knowledge you have gained to use and to see what area(s) you may wish to develop further. Taking time out of your schedule to re-evaluate your past, present, and future plans is always a wise move, especially as you tie your extracurricular activities and academic studies together during your college years.

Variety is the spice of life, or so the saying goes, and it is also new lifeblood for circuses as well as universities. You, as a transfer student, bring to Baylor fresh ideas and alternate approaches to doing things. This means that you can help to improve upon already-existing excellent organizations . . . and it also means you’ll have ideas for new organizations that could be on Baylor’s campus. (If you’d like to start one, the staff in Student Activities can help.) Your unique status as a transfer student opens certain doors that the freshmen can’t walk through, like the opportunity to join the Baylor Transfer Council, an organization that connects transfer students for fellowship, social, and service activities, as well as Tau Sigma, the newly-organized transfer student honor society, for which you can apply after earning a 3.5 or better in your first 12 hours of coursework at Baylor. Embrace those activities and opportunities, and reach out to others that involve younger students as well. Think of it as an opportunity to marry the best of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus with Cirque du Soleil: it will be a performance unlike any other . . . and one definitely worth remembering!

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