Sixteen years ago, I walked onto my college campus for the first time. I was an out-of-state student, I knew no one, and I was extremely nervous to be in college. Even though I had taken AP and dual-enrollment classes in high school, I still felt like an imposter. During my first weekend on campus, I remember sitting outside my residence hall, staring at my phone, and realizing I had no one to text to come hang out. As I felt a wave of extreme loneliness wash over me, I quickly told myself that I never wanted to feel that way again. I decided to go to as many activities as possible, to say yes to meeting new people, and to try out different involvement opportunities with the clubs and organizations at my school.

It was this decision that ended up changing the entire trajectory of my life. I ended up taking on multiple leadership positions in my college, which connected me to mentors across my institution who helped me access scholarships, internships, and job opportunities I otherwise wouldn’t have known about. By saying yes to hanging out with new people, I ended up getting involved in the Residence Hall Association at my university, which not only gave me a scholarship, but it also gave me large-scale event management experience that allowed me to land my first job out of college. Additionally, by getting involved and going to events, I met my now-husband at an ice cream social. Like I said, my entire life changed in college! 

If you want to get the most out of your college experience, here are my tips for you as you continue through the fall semester: 

Tip #1: Go to events

Like I said, I wouldn’t have met my husband if I hadn’t stopped into a random ice cream social that my new classmates invited me to. While I’m not saying you will meet your future partner at a college event, you never know what can happen just by stopping by events and workshops on campus. CU Denver has tons of events going on throughout each month, from club and organization meetings to large-scale social events to sporting events and more! My recommendation is to try out multiple clubs and organizations and see which ones you vibe with the most. You might be surprised where you find your deepest connections—it could be a club you never thought too much about, or it could be at a social event hosted by the Campus Activities Team. You never know unless you go! 

Tip #2: Get involved in at least one club, organization, or experience on-campus

When I got involved in the Residence Life Organization, I got access to scholarships, internship opportunities, and mentors that I otherwise would have never known about. You don’t need to join every club on campus—you just need to find at least one club, organization, or experience that you can commit to for the long-run that you also enjoy. This could be the Student Government Association, an undergraduate research activity through the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Office, an on-campus job in the Peer Advocate Leader office, a Greek Life position, or anything that you feel excited about. Getting involved doesn’t just fill time between classes—it gets you integrated with faculty, staff, and students at CU Denver. More opportunities for jobs, internships, and scholarships will open up the more you spend time on-campus outside of class, so spend some time this week looking up clubs and organizations on MyLynx or looking at on-campus jobs in Handshake to see what speaks to you the most and commit to being involved in at least one thing for the year. It might surprise you want to discover by being involved! 

Tip #3: Be curious 

My life motto is to always be curious. I’m curious about people, about different subjects, about research, and about new experiences. By being curious, you open yourself up to opportunities to build relationships and expand your own horizons. Simply by being in college means you are curious about learning more information and skills, so continue to be curious in your life outside of your major. Being curious is a verb—it means asking people questions about themselves to get to know them, raising your hand in class to engage more in your learning, and trying new activities that you may have never tried before. The world opens up so much more when you are genuinely curious about the people and world around you, and learning becomes so much more fun when you enter each class with a curious mind. See what happens when you commit to always being curious this year! 

By following these tips, I not only graduated with honors from my undergraduate university, but I graduated with a job offer, with a huge network of people, and with an entirely different career trajectory than what I had when I entered college as a nervous first-year student. Your college experience is what you make it, so be curious, try new things, go to events, get involved in at least one experience at CU Denver, and see what opportunities come your way this academic year!