Upon entering my first year at UB, I wondered how my stay here was going to be.
As a freshman, many college stereotypes came to mind. I thought my days were going to consist of boring classes, and my nights would consist of drinking. Yet I could be completely broke almost 100 percent of the time and always have just enough spending money for the single greatest commodity known to college students: beer.
After finishing a year, it was my belief that this luxury of constant drunken belligerence would be less readily available to my fellow peers. However, that didn't seem to be the case. People still found time to go out and drink their faces off.
What is it about college students that they don't care to find more recreational activities besides drinking?
What about actually making something of yourself while you're here and getting the most of the education you paying somebody's hard earned money for?
UB has countless opportunities for students to make something of themselves and harvest their own individual growth. Yet I still meet people who claim there is nothing to do on this campus besides going out and drinking.
Instead, a large amount of the time, I feel surrounded by people with nothing to show but apathy, a beer gut in training and an empty wallet.
What is all of this time spent wasted going to mean to people when they get that piece of paper that gives them entry-level access to the real world?
What will happen when there is someone in your life who looks up to you, whose lives depend on it? Do you think all the ridiculous stories you have -- which primarily consist of being passed out on the fraternity house floor -- are going to really help them?
What can people do to really get their money's worth at this institution?
Get involved.
Do something productive for yourself. Join an organization that requires its members to put time and effort for a common good ahead of selfish aims. Join a cause you feel strongly about and fight for it. Talk to people who have a completely different background than you.
Some people just really don't take advantage of all the ways there are here to succeed as a person. Instead, they find it more comforting to remain on the sidelines and just do what's required of them. Well, if that's the way you would prefer to give NY your money, then so be it.
I was never involved one bit in high school. There is, however, something about being in this opportunistic environment that should make people want to get involved somehow.
Even if you're not directly looking for opportunity, you can still manage to find it pretty much wherever you go. Different organizations and causes put themselves on display all over the place for the general UB community to see and maybe seek interest in.
Becoming active in the community you are part of can lead to all different types of lessons learned.
For instance, if you decide to run for a leadership position and fail, you'll learn what to change for next time. Success starts as failure.
The more people and places you experience, the more you learn about working with people and resolving conflict in an effective manner.
Finally, the more traveling you do around the community, the more likely you'll meet someone to give you access to a network of people who could help you find opportunities, or even get a job down the road.
Involvement builds leaders. And we are all the leaders of tomorrow. We are the fathers and mothers, the doctors who research the cure for cancer, the workers who build bridges, the people aiding starving children on the other side of the globe and anything we want to be if we're willing to climb up the ladder to get there.
I'm in no way against students having the good time of their choice, but perhaps 10 or 15 years down the road (although I'm sure no one is looking that far ahead), there will be other worthwhile experiences to look back on besides the nights you simply cannot remember (literally).
Go make something of yourself. Being a broke, apathetic, drunk college student whose money and time is wasted on leading a destructive or counterproductive lifestyle isn't constructive. You will mean more to yourself, and mean more to another person or a cause than you could have ever imagined.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
