Getting Involved on Campus is Not Something to Stress About
By Lauren Beizer
At Villanova University, there is a huge emphasis on becoming involved in as many extracurriculars as possible. This student culture has made several clubs and organizations on campus seem more exclusive, which in turn, limits the number of students that are granted membership. Being a member of Greek life, I have seen so many anxieties arise regarding the recruitment process of all individuals into these organizations. As an executive board member of my sorority, I want to ensure that everyone puts the recruitment process into a holistic perspective in order to avoid any unnecessary stress that one may be inflicting on themselves. This article will be applicable to frankly any student at any higher education institution that desires to join a club or organization where limited membership is a concern.
I personally went through the recruitment process and joined a sorority because I felt like it was an easier way to get involved on campus without having to do much extra work in addition to my normal curriculum. But I did lose sight of why I actually wanted to join certain organizations, especially Greek ones. I became increasingly interested in pursuing extracurricular after extracurricular with no true or authentic intention behind my actions, really just thinking about expanding my resume. I lost myself and my passions as a student in a sea of overwhelming opportunity and information during my first year at Villanova.
While joining an organization may have its benefits in terms of building connections with other classmates and branching out, it is important to hone in on your individual identity and your individual passions, and thoroughly identify them within yourself before you join an organization. Any club or organization that students join at Villanova should be inclusive of their entire being as a human. Compromising one’s individuality and one’s self-respect is never worth it in the end, just to join a club or sorority. The best thing we can do for ourselves is to be true to our intentions and embrace where we fit in best, whether it be Greek life, service-based organizations, or any of the other wonderful clubs at Villanova.
There is no reason to stress over where one may “fit in best” or to stress over what to wear to Greek life recruitment. The best thing that we can do for ourselves is to join organizations on and off-campus that we are passionate about and take pride in joining. Those extracurriculars will ultimately lead us to becoming better versions of ourselves through personal growth, rather than to a type of forced or obligated conformity to a club or organization’s certain way of being. If everyone chooses to join something out of pure passion and out of true intentions, they will certainly get the most out of their experience with that said organization. It is important to realize that thirty years from now, it will not matter what exactly you did in college outside of the classroom, but it will matter how you felt and how you exercised your passions in unique ways throughout these four transformative years of one’s life. Life is simply way too short to stress about clubs, organizations, or Greek life.
