it's what you make of it

As it’s the final spring of my senior year and I’m feeling sentimental, I’d like to share a bit of advice to my fellow students who are still trudging along in the middles or beginnings of their academic careers in
Bloomington.

Everyone has heard the well-worn phrase or idea that your education at IU is what you make of it.

It’s uttered during orientation, possibly briefly at a meeting with an academic advisor and often sternly from parents or relatives. You nod, you smile, you do your homework and have a drink at Nick’s afterward, thinking whatever it is you’re making of it, it’s something fun.

And while fun is an inexorable, vital part of the college experience, I urge everyone —  freshmen to seniors — to get involved on campus. Really get involved. Explore the campus, try new opportunities, take up fresh challenges.

IU is a veritable cultural Mecca in Indiana; a mélange of music, arts, sciences and liberal studies offering rich chances to explore something previously untouched. There’s an art museum, a world-class opera venue, a constantly-booked theater stage and an art-house cinema, all of which consistently present fresh material every semester to the public.

Simply seeing a show put on by your peers in the Jacobs School of Music or by the theater department can be an eye-opening experience — and one to see how incredibly talented that kid you sat next to in Finite last semester really is.

IU houses the Kinsey Institute, a special collection and research center dedicated to the study of human sexuality, as well as the Lilly Library, a rare manuscript and book study center. Both contain free museum spaces to check out collected materials and often have free events.

Joining clubs, student media and various other organizations can also help you make the most of your time as a student at IU.

There are clubs based on everything from history to religion, and student publications are widespread in many fields. Being the host of a radio program on WIUX or running a column in the Indiana Daily Student can also be really good ways to get involved with our school — cue totally humble self-congratulatory pat on back.

Regardless of what you choose to involve yourself in, it’s important to appreciate that many of these opportunities are created by and for students like us. Many publications and programs are run entirely by passionate students who simply like to work with things they love. So get passionate about something — deeply, weirdly passionate — and find a way to explore it and possibly share it with others.

Go to the Kinsey and check out some old Victorian erotica on the viewfinders or hold the real Oscar at the Lilly and take a selfie. Propose a WIUX program that highlights the best and worst of 1960s garage rock. Sign up for crazy hours to volunteer planning an event.

We won’t always be in college, so why not experience all that ours has to offer while we can? And who knows, that performance of Gilbert and Sullivan might be — dare I say it? — totally side-splittingly fun.

mcaranna@indiana.edu
@MarissaCaranna