A little while ago (about 4 years), I spent my first year as a Stevens student. It was a lot different from any other first-year college experience, mainly due to the large restrictions placed (the main one being that only first-year students were permitted on campus, and even that was optional). Despite living on campus for a year (live laugh love Jonas Hall), I felt like I had failed to make connections with my peers, campus itself, and any possible aspect of student life. Don’t get me wrong, I was still able to (try to) make the most of my time, and made some meaningful connections with friends that first year, but going into my second year, I really wanted to make a complete 180 in terms of my involvement on campus.
It wasn’t necessarily that I was not trying to get involved my first year, it was just that I had no idea how to and didn’t have much interest in virtual events/meeting people via zoom, so I just ended up not being involved in anything. While I attribute much of my current involvements to my time as a peer leader for the past three years, my involvement in The Stute actually has a story of its own.
Growing up, I had always hated “literacy” or any form of academic reading and writing. Looking back, I don’t think I disliked it so much but more so was frustrated that it didn’t come as easy to me as math did so it was not as easy for me to excel. It took until my junior year of high school to actually become confident in my skills and take ownership of my own unique style of writing because this was the first time that I was actually encouraged to do so rather than writing in a specific way. My last two years of high school I was really able to find my voice as a writer and not only use it to express myself in my college essay, but also impart it into my academic literary analyses as well. At Stevens, I enjoyed my CAL 103 and 105 classes, and was really proud of all of the work I had done for them, and I knew that I was going to miss writing after my first year. The summer between my first and second year, I saw on Instagram that The Stute was accepting applications for Opinion Columnists for the upcoming year. I don’t think it is something in the past I could see myself doing, but wanting to become more involved and wanted an outlet to still use my voice as a writer. I brainstormed some things that I was passionate about writing and speaking about (as well as a way to be able to be funny) and proposed my column Lifestyle HACKs (get it, because my last name is Hack).
The ideation of my column really just came from the fact that people always tell me that I give really good advice and that I am great at organizing things. Which like yeah, I do give great advice, but do I follow it? no not one bit: I have great ideas but no ability to follow through (spoiler alert after 3 years this has been diagnosed as ADHD, which I know must come as a shocker to some readers who have been telling me this since they have started reading my articles). Lifestyle HACKs has been a place where I pretend to have it all together, but me and you both know that I really don’t, but we just don’t talk about that part. I love being able to help people (even if it is literally just a stupid tip that I came up with) and really appreciate all of the feedback that I get for my silly little articles.
But honestly none of my Stute journey would have been possible if it wasn’t from all of the support that I always receive from my friends and family, my editors (I am so sorry that I submit every article exactly at the time of the deadline (this essay is no exception to that)), and past and present eboards who put so so much work into producing the work of art that the Stute is. Even though I just write a few hundred words every other week, I am forever grateful for the opportunities and support I have been given at The Stute.
I leave you with this: if there is something that you are even remotely interested in or vaguely considering, in any form, just go for it. A one-off of putting yourself out there can have the potential to change your life for the better.
