As a senior, it is a tradition to share some of the wisdom I have accumulated over my college experience with you on these pages. Since I was heavily involved in the Student Judiciary and in Housing during my time on campus, it is from these positions that my practical wisdom is derived, and it is these experiences that have shaped how I view campus. Given the confidential aspects of these positions, forgive me if I speak in generalities for the remainder of this piece.
Lesson 1: Pay attention, ask questions, and show up. Paying attention to your surroundings and asking questions about why things are the way they are is how you learn about your environment and what makes it tick. Knowing is the first step to improving. If you want to make your world a better place, you have to know where you stand so that you can start striding in the right direction. There’s a quote to the effect that just showing up is a significant fraction of success. That’s not what I’m talking about here. Showing up is about giving your utmost for something that you have decided is worth being a part of. Being an RA is like that for me. I’m an RA whether I’m having an off day or the greatest day of my life. And trust me, no one is cheery after being woken up in the middle of the night by the ticking time bomb, I mean, on-call phone. But there’s a job to be done, dammit, so you best make the best of it. And when you walk around, spine straight with this kind of relentlessly, ruthlessly compassionate attitude, people will take notice. Rightfully so. If you don’t want to be the best in the business at what you’re doing, you need to find a new line of work or a new attitude. And practical tip: people notice when you willingly sign up for extra responsibility.
There are many things I could say about my experience in SGA. Not all of them are family-friendly. In my official capacity I have witnessed firsthand the obstacles thrown up before leaders trying to make lasting changes in SGA. I had a Senator tell me candidly that another had turned to her, in the last session of the term, to ask what “abstain” meant. As someone who is “striving for excellence in all that I do,” discovering those within SGA that are not similarly devoted to excellence is frustrating to no end. They say nothing worth doing is easy; I believe them, because it will take some doing before we have an SGA completely worthy of representing an institution that calls itself the Capstone.
Lesson 2: If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. For those of you who don’t follow campus politics, the best analogy I can make for my experience is infants engaged in a slapfight. Those members of SGA who don’t care enough to learn and apply the documents relevant to their position inside-out, front-to-back, are part of what holds SGA back, by miring it in fights over documents. Trust me, the Judiciary doesn’t go looking for trouble. We don’t start internecine fights, but we do end them. I say all this to support my point that if something is worth doing, then it is worth doing well. And I have seen precious few who were willing to give their full measure of devotion to being a student serving students. There are plenty of people half-assing life. I want you, dear reader, to full-ass it. There are certainly enough opportunities on campus for you to find something worth being good at.
Eric Terrell has worked as a resident advisor in Friedman, Somerville and Lakeside West over the last three years. He has also served as an Associate Justice of the SGA for three years.
