If you were one of the FSU students in attendance for Black Leaders Aspiring for Critical Knowledge and Student Government’s, “United We Stand, Divided We Fall” discussion, then you listened to a panel of students discussing topics such as event financing, diversity and campus outreach.
Though reactions were mixed and some discussions were intense, there lied a genuine need for collaboration and communication between each respective organization.
However, there was also an evident necessity to strengthen the relationship between upperclassmen and underclassmen. Underclassman students in attendance raised questions regarding ways to become involved on campus. Students sitting on the panel representing their organizations at Williams Auditorium asked the audience for ways they can raise campus awareness.
Though responsibility for the lack of underclassmen attendance at campus events was shared between ineffective promotion and students choosing to stay in their halls, a greater consequence of the issue concerns a potential lack of future student leadership.
As an underclassman, I remember having many mentors who assisted me in getting involved on campus. They were student leaders by example and had built a personal relationship with the students they encountered. They were more than just event organizers; they were people who left a legacy of mentorship on FSU’s campus.
As upperclassmen, we should ask ourselves “Have we left our legacy on in underclassman through mentoring?”
Let’s be the examples to others that we followed to become the student leaders that we are. Though registered student organizations are a great way to build student collaboration, mentoring requires building personal relationships.
Introduce yourself to someone new. More important than investing your time into an event or RSO, is investing your time in a student. If we can show a personalized effort of student outreach, we can create a campus of student leadership.