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In this world, you are given the opportunity to excel in your personal growth. Soaring among the rest may seem like a challenge, but college is a good opportunity for you to become your own Superhero.

Your first step in becoming this “Superhero” is to decide on a “name”: what you are interested in. Every college has many different organizations you can join. Usually, you can even create a club if one doesn’t fit into your personal interests. In this part of your Superhero journey, you are not only picking out your name, but you are picking out what you believe in and what you want to be known for, so think hard.

With your newly found name and passion, it will not be so hard to find the right group of friends that fit your needs. My college has a day at the beginning of each semester called “Get on Board Day,” where every organization is given the opportunity to showcase their group. During this day, you can talk to people who have interests like yours, similar mindsets, and the same passion for growing. You are also able to make new friends in your specific major and join group chats to ask about the classwork and plan events together. This gives you an opportunity to make friends you will see for the remainder of your college career.

Being a Superhero also means that you need to take time for yourself to recuperate and catch up on necessary schoolwork. You can fight crime in the daytime by being an academic weapon and going to classes, and then in the nighttime, you can conquer going to your organization’s meetings, but will you get tired? Of course, you will; this means you have to manage your time adequately. By doing this, you can choose when you want to designate time to study, go to meetings, and take self-care time. This can be accomplished by using a physical or digital calendar to track everything.

In college, sometimes we may forget that we are also human, and that Superheroes have rest days as well. Do you think that Batman fights crime every night? No, he still manages to go to meetings or do other fun things when he is free. If you can manage everything and give yourself grace, then you have successfully become a college Superhero.

Embark on your new journey through college by attacking your academics and making meaningful memories with friends, and at the end of your college journey, you have ultimately saved the world!

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the ����app Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us –����to pitch your idea and get started! 

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College freshmen often struggle during their first few weeks on campus because it may be their first time being away from home. It can be an even bigger challenge for students who are shy or introverted. Most of us want to go back home every chance we get or stay in our dorms until we have to go to class. We feel as if we don’t know who we are yet, so we keep going back to the places where we feel ourselves. Whether attending a college near home or eight hours away, we all go through a phase of being afraid to make a friend. But there is no such thing as being too shy to make a long-lasting friendship. Even though it may be awkward at first, I found these three ways to be helpful in making new friends and connections.

Join a Student Organization

The first thing I did was try to get more involved on campus. My university has an app that lets you see some of the organizations on campus, and we have a day when the majority of our organizations come out to recruit new members. Attending this event allowed me to explore groups that sparked my interest and to talk to some of the members. I was able to really get to know the people and to see if I could see myself being friends with them or if we had similar interests outside of the organization. By joining one organization I connected with the members and met upperclassmen who gave me advice on how to navigate college.

Be True to Yourself

My newfound friends helped me see that I should be unapologetically myself. Everyone likes an authentic person, no matter if they are “quirky.” I didn’t need to change myself to fit in. I began to look for ways to grow and not stagnate while everyone else around me was growing. If I wanted to see growth that is exceptional, I realized I should join organizations that directly impacted students and that directly impacted my community. This was one of the reasons why I knew I would find my home and why I would make more friends.

Go to Class

It sounds like basic advice, but the last step is to go to class. Talk to your classmates. Go to professor office hours. Who knows, the study group you join may turn out to be your forever friends.

These are some tips that I followed in order to become a more “outgoing” person, and a person who is not so shy. This showed me that being shy does not hinder you from making friends. I could make friends and could influence other shy people to get out of their comfort zones and gain a better first-year experience!

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the ����app Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us –����to pitch your idea and get started!