Goals

I've been trying to do a major cleansing in my life. As in, trying to sort through all my accumulated junk in my room and closet. Of course, throughout this process, I find very interesting tangible memories.

Around this time last year, I was very excited for college because it marked a new beginning filled with opportunities and experiences that many college students and graduates glow about, so of course, I couldn't wait. One of the highlights of my freshmen year was Leadership Quest, a pre-orientation program for incoming freshmen at Rutgers. It was the perfect catalyst for my getting involved on campus, which I regard as the most important part of college. Anyways during Leadership Quest, we wrote down our goals for freshmen year on an index card, which I uncovered during my major cleaning efforts.

Here were my goals written nearly a year ago...

1. Join a Douglass Residential College (DRC) club, pharmacy club and a just-because fun club.

Wow, I'm impressed that I actually kept this goal! It takes a while to sort through the many, many clubs at Rutgers (incoming freshmen will be overwhelmed at the Involvement Fair) in order to find the ones that I want. I joined Douglass Student Recruitment Network because when I was a high school senior I enjoyed the overnight weekend event they planned for prospective Douglass students and Douglass Orientation Committee so I can help freshmen transition to college. As for the pharmacy club, I intended to join Pharmacy Governing Council or American Pharmacist Association. But then I realized that I would rather wait until the professional years to join a pharmacy profession club since most of them are geared towards professional year students. But I really wanted to get involved and so I decided to rush, and later pledge, Phi Delta Chi! :) And for the last category, I joined Alternative Breaks which is a community service organization. I also blog for Rutgers, but I'm not sure if that counts as a club. Overall, getting involved with these organizations really made my freshmen year enjoyable.

2. Sit with someone new once a week at the dining hall.

This is one of the things that sound good in theory, but in practice, often does not work. I actually tried this, and it was really awkward 4/5 times. I got this idea from a college tour guide for another school (a much smaller liberal arts college, so I assume it was a different atmosphere for this kind of experiment). Oh well.

3. Learn my way around the library.

I know my way around the Mabel Smith Douglass Library, the Chang Library and a bit around Alexander Library (it's huge). But I often just stay in the comfort zone of my familiar study spots.

4. Become friends with people who have very different personalities and perspectives.

This is very easy goal actually because Rutgers is very diverse. I learned a lot from everyone I've met.

5. Become more outgoing.

I would say I accomplished this goal. College allows people to reinvent themselves, so it is a supportive environment of meeting new people.

Goals for sophomore year! Maybe a year later I'll stumble back to this blog entry to read and reevaluate my goals?

1.  Eat healthy! This includes no packaged snacks, no take-outs at 10pm, and no forgetting to eat meals. Also, this means avoiding questionable food at the dining hall.

2.  Take more pictures to document my sophomore year. 150 photos/month?

3.  Work really hard to fulfill my responsibilities of my positions in my clubs, specifically Alternative Breaks and Phi Delta Chi.

4.  Go to more campus guest lectures and events. These are always surprisingly rewarding, so I will make a goal of attending 3 a semester.

5.  Keep 3 plants alive and well for each semester! :) Ha, challenge.