Thinking back to high school or even my first year on campus, I never expected to be as involved as I am now. Of course, sitting in all those mandatory seminars as a freshman, I saw that people had benefited from joining registered student organizations but it never seemed like my thing.
During my freshman year, I was more excited about spending hours at the gym playing basketball and eating every other chance I got. The reality now is that I’m lucky if I can even get three days a week at the gym under my belt or three meals a day for that matter.
I had a clear understanding of what I wanted to do with my life is when I saw the benefit of joining an RSO. I always knew I wanted to be involved with business one way or another, so I first declared my major at Ferris as business administration. I started to realize that my natural passions for photography and social media were closely tied to marketing.
Connecting various passions in my life felt like a light bulb moment for me.
Before sending my advisor an email about my new ideas, I decided to take my first marketing course before completely switching over majors. After just a couple weeks, there was no doubt that I saw myself in the marketing arena.
I felt it was only right for me to join the American Marketing Association (AMA) after officially declaring myself a marketing major. It was definitely a big step in the right direction. At first, I admit to being a little shy and anxious because everyone had been able to develop such tight relationships with each other.
I was one of the newest members of the RSO. No one likes that feeling. The RSO did a great job with being very open and making everyone feel welcome.
Since joining AMA, I’ve gotten wonderful opportunities to expand my participation on campus. On top of already working at the Market, I took on a photography position at the Torch, which has been an amazing experience so far.
Out of everything, I’m most excited about joining the recently started Entrepreneur Club. There, we’ll be bringing ideas to life and competing with all schools in Michigan for the best submission.
Involvement on campus can be an enriching experience and I am glad that I challenged myself. Overall, what I’ve learned from constantly pushing myself is that the things that scared me the most are what made me grow the most as well.
If you’re ever the slightest bit interested in an RSO and you feel hesitant, just go for it! It doesn’t need to be a life commitment.
Sample what different groups have to offer and give it a chance. If you aren’t satisfied, taking that step may put you closer to what you’re looking for. The semester might be almost halfway over but it’s never too late to join in.
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