With campus open this year, take advantage of all that it has to offer

Around both campuses, we’ve heard students and faculty alike say the same thing: “this year feels different.”

It was just two and a half years ago that the entire student body was sent home due to COVID. At the time, nobody realized what a profound effect it would have on the CSB+SJU experience. And yet, only the senior class has any semblance of a memory of pre-COVID normalcy.

For the past two years, we have endured online learning, social distancing, mask requirements and other restrictions. However, the “masks optional” signs are not the only thing different about this semester.

Clubs are emerging from a two-year hibernation or trying to switch up how to engage students after operating quasi-remote. Students need to lean into the abundance of new opportunities this year, for good reason. CSB+SJU preaches community like no other. It is something alumni cite over and over as a strength of our schools, and it’s the reason why so many families have generation after generation of Bennies and Johnnies.

This semester, as restrictions are lifted and the energy on campus feels different, it’s finally time for everyone to take advantage of community involvement. We’ve already seen, and would encourage, students gathering in lounges, connecting with professors in their offices and attending the numerous in-person events that will continue to fill up the bulletin boards around campus. Hopefully the involvement fair last week offered everyone the opportunity to see all the different clubs available here. Study after study shows that students who participate in extracurricular activities do better academically, have greater time-management and leadership skills, view their college experience more positively and have improved self-esteem and resiliency. After a few hard, and quite frankly, kind of lackluster academic years for both college and high school students, it’s crucial to make the most of the time we have and guarantee that we look back on our time fondly and without regrets.

Involvement doesn’t just extend to clubs either. It includes research opportunities, going to events or programs, joining a workout class, playing an intermural sport or taking advantage of the acres of beautiful nature on these campuses. Getting involved offers the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends. One of the best parts of college is encountering people that you never would have previously and allowing the diversity of experiences people on this campus to alter your worldview. Joining in on an event or group that gets people from across a wide variety of interests is a great way to diversify your way of thinking.

All of us have so many chances to find places to personally grow. Your involvement can be serious, it can be just for fun, it can be for learning professional skills. It can be for whatever you want to get out of it, but that’s not the point.

The essential point boils down to two words: get involved. Students this year have the opportunity to define what CSB and SJU will look like post-COVID. It is up to us to dictate whether clubs and organizations will continue treading water or thrive. It’s up to you to determine if you want to get out of your comfort zone.

The reality of the situation is that CSB and SJU are smaller than they were 10 years ago. With fewer students around, it’s our responsibility to maintain traditions and cultivate our renowned community, the one that these schools are built upon and promote so heavily to the outside world. Without COVID hindering us so heavily, we finally have that opportunity, so go out and take it.