Dear Incoming Freshman,
Welcome to the real world. You're on your own now. No mommy or daddy; you control what happens.
Some of you won't make it past Fall Semester. Others will end up with a Ph.D. Either way, it's your own doing that will get you there or hold you back.
As you start your first day here on campus, you've likely been bombarded with tips and advice on how to survive. I'm sure some of it is good and some of it bad. However, that isn't going to stop me from throwing my hat into the ring and offering up some advice as well.
Here it is: one of the best ways to not only get through the next four years but actually accomplish something during that time is to step outside of your nice little comfort zone and take a risk.
Last year, during my speech as Student Government Association President at Freshman Convocation, I offered up the same advice and told the following story as an example of what could happen when you step outside of your comfort zone.
See, I realized my freshman year that I wanted to be involved in politics. One day during class, my speech professor discussed his work in the U.S. Senate's press pool. I don't remember the details of his time there, but I know I realized he understood the inner workings of the political system.
So I did something that was really out of my comfort zone at the time: I scheduled a one-on-one meeting with him to ask for his advice on getting ahead.
One of his best suggestions was to write a letter to my congressman asking for a summer internship. The prospect of rejection intimidated me, given I was merely a freshman with little on my résumé. But I decided to take another step outside my comfort zone and wrote the letter.
Several anxious weeks later, my congressman's office called to set up a phone interview.Being new to job interviewing, some questions caught me off guard and I felt less than confident throughout the process.
I must have done something right though, because they hired me. I was the youngest intern by two years that summer.
My experiences that summer helped me decide that politics was where I wanted to be. During that first internship, I heard of an internship program in Washington, D.C. The program was very exclusive and I was unsure if I qualified. I also doubted my ability to survive a summer in the cutthroat world of Washington politics, if I were lucky enough to get accepted.
I almost didn't apply. But I pushed myself, once again, out of my comfort zone. A month later, my acceptance letter arrived. I spent the following summer interning for a firm in downtown Washington, D.C., only three blocks from the White House.
At the end of that summer, I was offered the opportunity to help during the Democratic National Convention, through connections I'd made in D.C. Despite missing a week of school and feeling apprehensive of what going to Denver would be like, I accepted.
The experience was incredible. I took batting practice at home plate on Coors Field, witnessed massive protests led by Rage Against the Machine and crammed in with 80,000 other people at Invesco Field to watch Barack Obama accept the nomination to be the next President of the United States.
By the end of the week, the company I'd been assisting offered me a summer job. After months of speculation and self-doubt about the corporate world, I finally accepted the position. I've spent this summer working at a paid internship looking at the aspects of the health care reform debate.
As a result, I have cemented friendships and made new connections that will guide my career and my life.
All of this because I stepped outside of my comfort zone and talked to a professor.
You're away from home, living on your own and going through your days surrounded by tons of strangers, or as I like to say, friends you haven't met yet. That in itself is an example of stepping out of your comfort zone. Why not continue with that? Why not try something new? You're here to learn and as you'll soon find out, the bulk of learning isn't going to come from the classroom, but from interactions with other students.
Whatever you do, just make sure that you make the best of these next four years on campus by seizing some of the plethora of opportunities that exist around you. Remember, step outside of your comfort zone every once and awhile. You never know what may happen.
Sincerely,Frank Hood
Write to Frank at frhood@bsu.edu
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