Two years ago, I arrived at Pitt and immediately started stressing out about making friends. When I didn\u2019t instantly connect with the first few people I met, I started worrying I\u2019d spend my whole college career alone. I also lived in Sutherland East my first year, and anyone who has lived on upper campus can tell you how difficult it can be to make the trek back and forth on Cardiac Hill. Not only is it a motivation killer for going to class, especially when the weather\u2019s bad, but it can also kill someone\u2019s drive to explore campus and socialize. I quickly realized this and decided that to find my people and feel at home at Pitt, I needed to spend as little time as possible in my dorm.<\/p>\n
The solution to that? Joining a ton of clubs.\n<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re having trouble meeting people, want to indulge in a hobby you enjoy or just want to find something to do with your time, I can\u2019t recommend joining clubs enough. I met most of my current friends through clubs. If I hadn\u2019t spent all that time going to club meetings, I wouldn\u2019t know as many people on campus as I do now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Joining clubs may feel embarrassing at first, but you\u2019ll always regret not trying more than you\u2019ll regret trying and failing at something. I know our generation feels shame for making an effort and caring too much because I\u2019ve written a whole article complaining about that<\/a>. As long as you continue to try, you\u2019ll eventually succeed \u2014 that goes for both goals you might have and connections you want to build with other people.<\/p>\n In the clubs I partake in, I\u2019ve made amazing friends that I cherish every day, pursued interests that I couldn\u2019t pursue through my courses and grown into more of the person I want to be. It can get busy and even a bit overwhelming at times, but I do my best to attend most of my clubs each week because I know it\u2019s what\u2019s best for me in the long run. I personally credit 95% of my positive college experiences to three clubs I joined my first year \u2014 Pitt Tonight, WPTS Radio and The Pitiful News.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pitt Tonight is the school\u2019s late-night sketch comedy show. I applied to be a writer after seeing chalk promotions written outside of the Petersen Events Center after convocation. A major portion of my college experience has been shaped by this club. Not only have I been able to write within a community of some of the funniest people I know and get to share that humor with the school, but I also met my best friends in Pitt Tonight. I talk to people from this club on a daily basis, and it\u2019s connected me with other students interested in script writing and the American comedy scene. Every month, we perform an hour-long show, and it\u2019s both exhausting and incredibly rewarding. If I didn\u2019t force myself to open up to these people, attend meetings twice a week and express myself, I\u2019d be missing out on so much.\u00a0<\/p>\n WPTS Radio is our campus\u2019s independent radio station. Early on during my first year, I was having a particularly bad day and decided to go on a walk around lower campus. By chance, I walked past some people tabling and playing cornhole outside of the William Pitt Union, and they asked me if I wanted to join the campus radio station. I joined Music Staff later that week and went to the station every Monday night for the rest of the year for meetings. Not only did I meet people I clicked with, but I also expanded my music taste and even met my current roommate. Now, I spend most weekdays in the station \u2014 a great third space if you\u2019re looking for one \u2014 and know that if I\u2019m having a bad day, someone there will be able to distract me.<\/p>\n Last but certainly not least, The Pitiful News is a satirical news club on campus, similar to \u201cThe Onion.\u201d I joined this club the spring semester of my first year and currently serve as vice president. I love it because it gives me an additional opportunity to write comedically on a regular basis. This club was a needed escape for me last year, and sometimes clubs need to be just that \u2014 not something you exactly want to use for the future, but something you enjoy that feels separate from all your other problems.\u00a0<\/p>\n These are just a few of the clubs I participate in, but with hundreds of organizations to choose from, each Pitt student can find a club that fits at least one of their interests. Take a thorough walk through the Involvement Fair<\/a> on Aug. 23 from 1-4 p.m. at the Petersen Events Center, and talk to the people who are tabling.<\/p>\n If you allow fear to keep you in your dorm all day, you\u2019re missing out on a whole world on campus. A regularly scheduled reason to be out and about \u2014 like a club meeting \u2014 will make your life fuller. And most importantly, joining clubs will help you meet peers with similar interests, which is one of the best and easiest ways to make your college experience truly count.<\/p>\n Isabel Hoch is a junior English writing major who obsesses over very specific things for months at a time. If she writes an article about something, it means her friends haven\u2019t heard her shut up about it in weeks. To get in a heated debate over something dumb or learn more about any of the clubs she glazed in this article, you can email her at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two years ago, I arrived at Pitt and immediately started stressing out about making friends. 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