When I first came here, I was overwhelmed and frightened by everything the University was and still is. It was one of the darkest periods in my life because I had no one that I considered a close friend here on campus. My cellphone bill skyrocketed because of my constant calls to my mother and my father, complaining about everything and anything. That’s when my mother gave me some advice. It was the type of advice that you disregard, but in the end, you kick yourself for not following sooner. It was the type of advice that I hated learning from my mother of all people.

“Do things that you like to do and eventually you will find people who like to do them, too,” she said to me during one of our 45-minute phone conversations.

I’m sure I rolled my eyes and may have even scoffed. In the end, however, that may have made all the difference. One of the nights of my first semester, I came to Maxwell Hall for one of the Creative Campus’ Art Nights. There, I met Jackie Pitts and Naomi Thompson. They were and are some of my strongest friends that I have made during my college career.

Some people think of the University as only a stepping stone to a better job, only an obstacle they have to overcome to get where they want to be in life. For them, the University is only a place of academics. They come every week, listen to their professor lecture, take tests and then leave. It does not provide the sense of community that all of us at some level strive for. I know for me, it took more than two years of searching. I went to Spain for a year searching, heck, I may have even gone as a way of avoiding the fact that I hadn’t found it yet.

But, eventually, I did find it.

I came back from Spain and became involved in the Creative Campus as an intern. I never felt empowered when I arrived at the University as a freshman. I never felt empowered in Spain. I was constantly overwhelmed by the gravity of it all. I felt like a small insignificant piece in a game of Monopoly being played out on a massive scale.

When I joined Creative Campus, I began to see myself differently. I began to see that the University wasn’t such a big place after all. Impressive? Still is. Too big for me? Not anymore. The thing that makes my perspective different is the fact that now I can see myself in the game. I can see myself interacting with it, growing with it and learning from it. I don’t think that can be learned in a classroom. I don’t think my experiences have a CRN number or an accompanying textbook. It came from me doing what I like to do and from all those who made me believe that I can.

Charlie Bice worked for Creative Campus for the past two years.