I am sitting in the library next to my best friend as she types aggressively on a lap top that is bigger than her torso, remembering just how we crossed paths. If I had to recount a specific point in time where I looked at Millie and reflected on her significance in my future, I would say honors orientation brought this insane young adult into my life. So, before you rip up the invitation to attend this mass convocation of fellow bookworms and library goers, here’s why honors orientation benefited my college life.
Icebreakers are nobody’s favorite things. I can’t express in politically acceptable words how I feel about organized group activities, and if I have to hear the word “ships” or “sailors” one more time within the next decade it will be too soon. However, the time spent on our own was what really changed my perspective on the honors college.
I’ll be brutally honest; I’d made too many judgments toward the others in the honors college. I’d assumed that I wouldn’t get along with anyone who deemed themselves as “honors kids,” and I chose to live outside of the honors living community. I’d written off an entire group of people, only to realize that these human beings collectively made up my ideal crowd. I despise pool, but I played more games of pool with strangers that night than I had ever played in my 18 years of life. I have no hand-eye coordination, but the many hours spent barefoot on the volleyball court were the best hours I’d spent on any school grounds.
And Millie – my dear fellow eccentric – her presence at honors orientation did so many great things that she will never know. Her willingness to drop everything and engage in impulsive athletic feats struck me immediately. I have never met someone who is so much like the person I strive to be.
Honors orientation has not only given me many great friends – and quite an impressive shot at pool – but it has also given me a confidant, running buddy, study partner, and impulsive-index-card-maker all in one body.
Do not think twice about going to honors orientation. It’s not what the OLs plan that will excite you the most; it’s the bonds you form in those precious hours between organized games of charades and Irish dancing that will impact you in the long run.