Being a student at Southern Methodist University is being a part of something very special.
SMU is an institution that empowers students from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences to accomplish incredible things.
As our university enters its’ second century of existence, I would like to pose a challenge to our students to step up and get involved. We have hundreds of students who are heavily involved in a wide range of activities, but we also have a hundreds of students who are only involved in one or two extra-curricular activities and don’t really reach out beyond that.
SMU is consistently investing millions upon millions in improving every aspect of our university and we have succeeded in achieving enormous growth and development from where we stood two decades ago.
As a student body, we have to embrace this growth and become a part of it.
That means getting involved in whatever interests you to the best of your ability. Being a member of a club, team, or organization has little meaning if you don’t actively contribute.
My experience at SMU has been enormously enhanced by finding organizations that I liked and wanted to be a part of and then investing as much time and effort as I could afford to make that organization stronger and more effective.
Finding your niche at SMU shouldn’t be hard. We have hundreds of organizations to choose to be a part of and each of those organizations has dozens of ways to get involved.
While we have many very capable and wonderful leaders on our campus, many organizations on campus are struggling from a lack of effective leadership and need more brilliant and motivated SMU students to get involved.
Whatever your calling might be, I encourage you to take it to the next level and take part in something bigger than yourself. That may mean starting an entirely new organization, which is no easy task. However, hard work and dedication can pay off in spades.
A good, recent example comes from an academic program that has developed into a professional student organization and a student research initiative with incredible opportunities.
Last spring, SMU Tower Center Forum opened up an organization for students called the Tower Center Student Forum. In one year, their membership has grown from a handful of political science students into a diverse group of well over 300 students.
This effort was led by a few students here at SMU with collaboration from the Tower Center because those students and faculty cared about making something unique and meaningful that would enhance the education of any interested SMU students.
My hope is that our student body at SMU can become more involved in improving our university as we move forward into this Centennial celebration.
If there are things that you want to change or enhance, do it. Leadership on the part of our students can make deep and impactful changes on our campus that will progressively evolve the SMU experience for everyone long-term.
If you aren’t sure how to start, reach out to your professors, advisors, your student senator, our student body president, our student trustee, or leaders in whichever organization that you may have interest in. SMU has a long, prestigious history of creating leaders in the professional, philanthropic, religious and academic worlds.
SMU has so many resources at your disposal; I encourage all of our students to take full advantage of them!
R. Haynes Strader, Jr is a senior political science and advertising double major. He is also the 2010-11 student representative to the SMU Board of Trustees and Board of Directors of the Student Media Compnay. He can be reached for comments or questions at [email protected].
