One of the reasons I was looking forward to coming to Monmouth University was the wide array of clubs and other extracurricular activities the campus had to offer.
I was excited to get involved on campus as soon as possible. I wanted to join every club or group that I was interested in.
Yes, there’s only one time block in the week where clubs are guaranteed the chance to meet (2:30 to 3:30 on Wednesdays), but I figured I could do it since not every club meets during that particular hour.
Some groups I have already joined, such as Hawk TV and even RHA, which meet at night, so I thought I was getting more time in the day to attend other meetings.
Imagine my horror when I attended the Involvement Fair and discovered that not one, two, three, but four groups I wanted to join were all scheduled to meet at the exact same time! Not cool. I can’t be in four places at once. This is why we need more club hours (or a cloning machine).
Each time I toured the Universities’ campus as a prospective student, I discovered even more ways for me to get involved in my major which made me fall in love with the school even more. This of course evidently led to my decision to enroll at Monmouth.
I was looking forward to arriving on campus and joining each of these groups, such as The Monmouth Review or The Verge because I enjoy writing. I was interested in joining Shadows Yearbook because I have always wanted to work on a yearbook, or even Boom Roasted Productions because I have a passion for theater.
I never expected to be forced to choose between any of them, which probably intensified the shock of the situation. As much as I want to be a part of all of these organizations, it just won’t work if they all occupy a single club hour.
I can’t even overextend myself, because again, I can’t be in four places at once. I was ready to do it all, but now I see that isn’t entirely possible nor realistic.
It’s great that we have a set time in place to give clubs the chance to meet regularly, but when students looking to get involved and pursue interests are forced to choose between two equally fun clubs they love, that’s not a good situation.
I felt like I was being pulled in all different directions when I was trying to decide which of the four clubs I would be attending on Wednesdays at 2:30.
No matter how much I weighed the pros and cons of choosing one club’s meeting over another, I was at a loss for an answer and still am
I finally made my decision with eventually choosing Boom Roasted Productions to fill that cursed time slot, because I already write for The Outlook and parts of Hawk TV anyway.
Monmouth heavily encourages its students to get involved with campus life by joining various activities in order to make friends and feel a part of something. But it’s a lot harder to find your niche when you’re pressed to make a choice as opposed to having the chance to try everything out.
If you try to join multiple clubs, you’ll still be able to make it to some meetings, but in reality you’ll look like you have commitment issues.
Another frustrating aspect of the single hour time slot- having to run across campus to travel from one meeting to the next because they’re all jam-packed together in just sixty minutes. It’s almost like changing classes. If one meeting runs overtime, I’m late to the next.
Nobody likes the feeling of awkwardly shuffling into a room during an ongoing meeting and everyone staring at you because they know you’re late. I certainly don’t.
One hour a week is a rather small time frame, only one hour for over 90 clubs and organizations on campus. Club meetings need to be further spread out to better accommodate students’ schedules. With more time set aside for club hours so that students will have more opportunities to get involved.
It’s hard to choose between two great things. But in student life, we shouldn’t be forced to.
