Maximize your college experience: Join student organizations
By Vickie Lee-Her
Metropolitan State University can pride itself on providing high quality education for over 9,000 students, 65 percent of which are part-time students. But we, as students, need to feel a sense of belonging and community. With so many students achieving their educational goals part-time or online, it can be hard to feel like a part of a community at Metropolitan State. But by joining one or more student organizations, you can maximize your student experience.
According to a study done by A.W. Chickering called “Commuters vs. Residents,” joining a student organization can stimulate students with new ideas, values and beliefs while providing support and alternative gratification. When you join a student organization, you are enhancing your overall educational experience. It improves your social life and by doing so you gain self confidence, improve teamwork abilities and develop leadership skills. Since these skills can be used in any job setting, you are not only improving your social life, but also your work skills.
At Metropolitan State there are currently 21 student organizations you can join. Each student organization offers students opportunities to make meaningful relationships with people who have similar interests.
“Students talk in class and then go home,” says Gail Smogard, faculty advisor for Theater Underground. “It’s important to network among peers and do something beyond class. Joining a student organization is an added benefit to education – to not take part of that aspect of an education is unfortunate.”
Theater Underground (one of the 21 student organizations on campus) and Smogard put on productions at Metropolitan State University. For fall semester, the organization will present MacBeth and for spring semester, The Glass Menagerie. She points out that it’s fun to get involved in production and experience something that is almost impossible to get any other way, even with a community theater. Approximately half of the students involved with Theater Underground are not theater majors; therefore the organization helps students of any major to fulfill their interests in theater.
“Many students feel pressure to work and keep track of their families,” says Smogard. “If they can, they should find [a student organization] that interests them.”
With so many students living off-campus, are Metropolitan State students at a disadvantage compared to other college students? A study done by Santiago Abdelis at Loyola University’s New Orleans Department of Psychology, found that a student’s level of involvement was influenced by their feelings of belonging, regardless of their proximity to campus.
Metropolitan State offers students many reasons to be happy with the university itself such as affordability and convenience. But it often takes cooperation on both sides to gain a sense of belonging. So ask yourself, do you feel like you belong at Metropolitan State University? If your answer is no, consider one or more of the many student organizations you can affiliate yourself with. From theater to psychology to nursing, you can find a student organization that matches your interests!
To learn more about getting involved on campus visit http://www.metrostate.edu/msweb/pathway/academic_success/slld/index.html.