Crunch Time?

Shavonna Hinton

So we’re a third of the way into the semester now and signs of summertime are popping up all around us.  Even if Binghamton may have extremely bipolar weather, the sunny days we’ve been experiencing certainly outnumber the cold ones.  Along with this summertime feeling brings the realization that in a mere two months school will be over until August.  While this brings joy and excitement, for me, it also caused me to wonder, Now What?  Once school lets out, I’ll have three and half months with nothing to do.  How in the world am I going to fill this time up with something productive?

This is an issue that everyone faces and for every college student it’s a little different.  For a college senior, they’re hit with the notion that their lives are about to change drastically.  Some may go on to grad school others may go out into the workforce.  Juniors in college might begin to realize that they’ve only got 2 semesters to finally get that 3.8 they’ve been striving for or they might be working hard to nail down that internship for the summer.  But when it comes to college sophomores and freshman I feel as if there’s a huge gap.  It’s almost as if we’ve become complacent with how our lives are.

In high school, more specifically senior year, everyone makes that big push to beef up their resumes and get involved in everything they can.  Many students actively seek jobs and for the most part I’d say were very productive in society.  Then after a year of hard work and productivity it all just seems to stop. Many of the freshmen and some sophomores I know make very little effort to further themselves in college at an early age.  Whereas in high school everyone was racking up volunteer hours and joining clubs left and right, it seems like now everyone would rather go to The Rat or Paradigm on a Thursday night.

Now I’m not saying having fun is a bad thing, I’m just saying instead of spending $8 for a long island iced tea, it might be a better use of time and money to go to a SIFE, SEAC or Haitian Student Union meeting. Not only will you get to meet other students at Bing (while sober), but you’ll also be racking up activities to put on your resume.  As for internships, often I’ve heard people say there’s nothing out there for freshman and sophomores.  I say make up your own.  Ask around and see if there is a need of some sort in your hometown.  Figure out how to solve it.  Any experience is good experience.  The earlier you start, the better off you’ll be in the long run.

Until Next Time…Keep it Classy.