You Might be Losing Yourself in Involvement Culture
By Lindsay Gallagher
It's no secret that Villanova is dominated by involvement culture. However, after four years immersed in the thrill of "making an impact" on campus, I've come to realize that filling up my resume didn't make me feel any less empty. You can't feel like a whole person if you choose to only define yourself by the organizations you're involved in.
As a personal example from my life, it always puzzled me why Blue Key starts recruiting freshmen less than a month after they come to campus. After three weeks here, with a friend group in its infancy and not even having received midterm grades yet, how are you supposed to know if you like the school enough to convince other students to come? It's almost like they're trying to get freshmen involved before they know any better -- before their Villanova narrative isn't the narrative that the administration wants to project to prospective students.
And in your upperclassman years, if Blue Key becomes your only extracurricular activity (which isn't unheard of, considering that Blue Key demands two hours a week of your unpaid labor all year, plus additional events, trainings and workshops, and upwards of ten hours a week if you're in a leadership position), what Villanova experiences are you going to be able to talk about on tours? This isn't to say I don't enjoy giving tours and being a member of Blue Key, because I do. But the tour guide retention rate from freshman to senior year is less than 50 percent -- possibly because people slowly realize that their identity shouldn't be established by which quarter zip you wear.
My relationship with Villanova has evolved quite a bit since the honeymoon period freshman year where Villanova felt like Disneyland. (I literally used to say that to prospective families.) Four years later, I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly of Villanova -- the flagrant displays of financial privilege, the ego-feeding disguised as community service, the hypocrisy of the administration in their COVID mitigation efforts. Maybe I'm more cynical now, but I've watched involvement culture turn people into stressed-out shells of themselves -- and narcissists.
So how, in the face of all of this, can you keep yourself from losing yourself? Take a second right now, and ask yourself if the organizations you're in right now bring you joy. And is it the actual purpose of the organization that's bringing you joy, or is it the social status you're enjoying from it? Once in a while, take time to hang out with friends that aren't involved in the same clubs you're involved in -- and avoid talking shop. Ask yourself what your values are, and who the people in your life are that best embody those values, so you can spend more time with them. Start setting goals for yourself that have nothing to do with getting new leadership positions or adding new lines to your resume. Remember that rest and leisure are virtues.
The rat race of moving up the ranks in your extracurriculars will get old eventually. I get it -- we are all high achievers, and it's natural to want to improve your life, but there are ways to make your life better that don't involve a new job title. We should be using our time to enjoy college and to discover what our true passions, interests, and values are. If you're constantly trying to shape yourself to fit a job description, you'll never discover who you're really meant to be.
