COLUMN: Make your four years count


opinion

There are many memories I will cherish from college besides the dreaded caffeinated all-nighters during finals week every semester. 

Playing Mortal Kombat with my roommate and his younger brother during Siblings Weekend, running to 7-Eleven at 2 a.m. to cash in a lottery ticket or move-in day my freshman year when everybody on our floor had their doors open.

There are 22 residence halls on Central Michigan University's campus with accommodations ranging from a one bedroom four-person suite to four bedroom single-person suite. The latter is geared toward upper-class students.

Freshmen live on campus their first year, but many opt to move off campus into one of the many houses or apartments available for students.

There are a multitude of benefits to living on campus during your undergraduate career.

When filling out the online housing application, students have the option of selecting specific individuals as roommates, but this is not a requirement. There is also a survey that tries to place students together who share common interests, study and sleeping habits.

As a result, many do not know who they will room with, which can be a frightening, nerve-wracking or exciting experience.

Many term this "going in blind." It relies on probability, so you may get someone who likes to take five minute showers, someone who hogs the bathroom for two hours or someone who, for one reason or another, foregoes bathing or laundering their clothes.

With this method, you have the opportunity to meet new people while learning to respect one another's personal space and belongings.

College is a time for many firsts when it comes to managing finances, doing your laundry, learning time management, procuring appropriate study habits and learning to live and make compromises with another human being and share close quarters.

In addition to getting to room with someone you do not know, residence halls provide excellent opportunities to get involved on campus and foster the growth and development of a community.

During my sophomore year, I had the pleasure of serving as Kesseler Hall Vice President on our hall council's executive board.

This provided me with invaluable leadership and group dynamic experience as well as the ability to meet staff and students in the various residence halls around campus. I learned about the planning, budgeting and execution of events and I was also able to network and maintain relationships.

Living on campus provides students with an useful support system. Resident Assistants are not just on there to bust students for alcohol and other substance infractions, or for the free room and board.

Many of these people are upperclassmen. More often than not they will be able to relate to you when it comes to registering for classes, dealing with less than agreeable professors or even procrastination. Everybody has been guilty of that at some point during his or her time here.

Resident Assistants will occasionally put on programs specific to their floor in order to try to get people familiar with those living around them.

Living in a residence hall provides students with the chance to feel part of a community.

Resident Assistants, Multicultural Advisers and student leaders work throughout each semester to put on philanthropic, educational, social and diversity-based programs to get students out of their rooms and interacting with those living in the hall around them.

Whatever it may be, there are plenty of ways for CMU students to get involved and feel part of a community within their residence halls. There's something, too, to the convenience of having a food market inside your building or access to the dining facilities rather than having to worry about cooking or shopping for groceries.

The college years go by quickly. Make the most of them and enjoy them with those around you.

Share: