Making time for extracurriculars pays off

In the upcoming weeks in the opinions section, you ' re going to find not one or two, but five so-called " swan songs, " and this editorial is the first of that series. Basically a " swan song " means that it is the editor ' s final editorial for Technique. After four long years of Tech, my time at the newspaper is nearing an end. Unfortunately I can ' t say the same for my time at Tech because I foolishly choose to take the often-traveled five-year plan, much to the chagrin of my parents (and myself at this point in the semester).

So instead of talking about how my future will be forever impacted by my time at Technique and what I ' m going to take with me when I leave from here, I ' m going to reflect on what I ' ve learned from my tenure so far at both the paper and Tech, and offer a little advice.

Back when I first started Tech, there was nothing about the place my first semester that enticed me to stay an extra year. I was positive that I would graduate at 21, not 23.

My life was all planned back then - I had a five- and 10-year plan of exactly where I wanted to work and what my ideal job would be. Getting involved in the paper wasn ' t even part of my plan. I wanted to dedicate all of my free time to school and meeting new people. I wasn ' t even going to go to a meeting until I got an email inviting me to go because I had put down " writing " and " journalism " as hobbies on my SAT test.

By the end of my first semester of freshman year, I knew I definitely wasn ' t cut out to be a Computer Science major - Scheme was the bane of my existence. All I knew was that the only thing I liked about Tech was the friends I had made and my involvement in the ' Nique (and a couple of other activities). I had no clue what to study. At the time I was really confused about whether or not to major in something I enjoyed as a hobby or something that I felt I could turn into a career. After speaking with many people, advisors and people at the Majors Fair, I eventually I settled on the right combination for me.

Working at the ' Nique freshman year and since has also taught me that money really isn ' t everything, which definitely helped in picking a major. If I didn ' t love what I was doing, there ' s no way that I would have spent 10 to 20 hours away from my friends and classes each week as a section editor. I definitely don ' t even think I could put a price tag on the time I ' ve spent researching countless stories, interviewing interesting people and writing about my findings.

While you may be wondering, how does one balance pursuing an extracurricular activity, school work and friends, it ' s not easy but I ' ve found that it ' s definitely possible. In my case, getting involved in the Nique has provided me needed relief from school on many occasions. Getting to interview movie stars (okay two - Josh Lucas and Paul Rudd) and cover the Final Four are right up there with my best school distractions. Not to mention that I was able to learn all of the hidden intricacies to the Tech bureaucracy in no time.

In terms of friends, I ' ve ended up making a few of my closest friends from the paper. Yes, as sad as it is, my dad was right when he told me I should join a club to meet people before I started Tech. My initial reaction was " that ' s so high-school. "

But seriously if you get invited to a club meeting, do you have anything to lose by not going and checking it out? Even if it ' s something you ' ve never heard of or sounds ridiculous (like the Lasagna Club - no offense), why not try it out? The worst thing that could happen is that you don ' t have a good time and you ' ve wasted 20 minutes out of a four- or five-year college career.

It ' s really not a good idea to suppress your desire to get involved on campus, and excuse me for sounding too much like a tool here.

Of course, I must warn you about the slippery slope. Once you get involved in one organization, you find might find yourself unable to say no to new ones. So stick to only one new one a semester.

All-in-all, I can definitely say that not sticking to my original plans has been one of the best decisions I ' ve made and I ' d recommend everyone respond to a random email or two.