When I’m planning my moves toward the future, whether it be, apartment hunting, class scheduling, the type of employment I seek out, or the type of clubs I join, I imagine a pyramid in my head. At the top is my law degree and at the bottom are all of the little things I’ve been doing and will do to get there. I have a goal and a plan and it scares me to know my friends and peers do not.

Everyone knows the best part of Fall is that pumpkin spice lattes are back at Starbucks and that the Premier league is in season again. Second (or third) best is the fact that every August/September that you return to school you have the opportunity to evaluate where you’re going and what you’re doing. Are you on track? Are you where you want to be? Where you need to be? Fall is a new leaf to make better friends, join more study groups, and actually do your reading (No, really. Apparently textbooks work well not only as mouse pads, but as learning tools as well!).

All I’m saying is that this is a great time to make better decisions. We can’t all be goal oriented crazy people like myself, but everyone can get a delicious fall themed beverage and think about their future. That’s really the first step to getting there.

But it’s far more than that.

Dozens of students and their parents arrived on campus early Thursday morning in preparation for a two-day orientation session, an annual rite of passage at USF St. Petersburg.

Students and parents shared breakfast at Harbor Hall before breaking off for various meetings all over campus.

Parents learned about student safety and housing. They met the deans, spoke with financial aid advisors, and got answers to any pressing questions. Students had a similarly packed day as they met with academic advisors to finalize course schedules, had their photos taken for ID’s, and learned about their rights as USFSP students.

After dinner the parents said goodnight and headed home or to local hotels before the students enjoyed skits about diversity presented by their Orientation Leaders. Day one ended with a pool party at the waterfront that went well into the night.

Day two started bright early for students as they learned about living on campus and becoming an active member of the USFSP community before heading home in the early afternoon.

This was just one of six orientation sessions for more than 700 freshmen, and seven sessions for about 600 transfer students this summer. (The transfer students do not spend the night.)

On the heels of USF St. Pete’s largest graduating class to date in May, the largest freshmen class ever is expected with more than 700 students.

Both Residence Hall One and the new residential student tower at the University Student Center are expected to be full, bringing the total number of students living on campus to nearly 550.

I see a lot of my peers grazing the surface on big issues, but refusing to dive deeper because to them there’s no point. If you want to make Facebook posts talking about the economy, healthcare, the way our university is run, or even the re-construction of the pier then find some passion and then speak up. Care about the topic for longer than when its being shoved in your face. Just because someone else has said it before does not invalidate your thoughts and feelings.  Before you can synthesize a new idea you have to have knowledge in the ideas that came before.

The first step to changing the big picture is stepping into the little one.

It was crystal clear to me back then that the only problems that I could face would be the same problems that effect us all.

A kind of nonsense

A recent trend in both undergrad and graduate schools is the idea of a certain number of summer credit hours. I was first introduced to the idea when a friend at New York Law School said she couldn’t sight see with me while I was on vacation because she had class. My response? It’s the end of June. What kind of nonsense is that? Currently the kind of nonsense I am getting familiar with. I signed up for summer classes this semester with a heavy heart and a dragging GPA. I thought to myself, how bad can it be? It’s four hours a day, twice a week. No big deal. Wrong.

Little adages

If it wasn’t obvious not too many people are pumped to spend their summer vacation in a class room… and it shows. I’m taking a French class which has dwindled from 15 to 8 and an Entrepreneurship class where I’m the youngest person in the room. Since telling people I’m learning French is far more interesting than telling them I’m learning Spanish and have no plans to get into business, my excitement for my summer peaked and hit a plateau the week between spring and summer classes. I lacked a choice on the language front since foreign language is a requirement, but I wasn’t completely sold on this Entrepreneurship. The only thing that got me into that classroom on the first day were thoughts of my GPA and mixed reviews on Ratemyprofessor. Halfway through the first class session I was fantasizing about leaving and never coming back. The criticisms lobbied at the instructor on Ratemyprofessor weren’t entirely false, but neither were the praises. It feels like I’ve spent the last six weeks relearning things I already knew. Little adages I’ve heard all of my life tested and proven true. But apparently that’s the point.

The subtlety of language

There isn’t anything special you have to do to be successful in creativity. You just have to remember how to be creative, but what we’ve really spent a lot of time discussing is the subtle nuances of language. The subtlety in the way you phrase out your concerns (concerns as questions) has been, for me, my favorite lesson. The difference between “this idea has been done before” and “how do you plan to deal with similar competitors” is huge and while the message is the same it generates a different thinking process. The subtlety of language and the distinct phrasing of words is what has gotten more than one person on trial out of hot water (I’m looking at you John Edwards).

If I had the inclination, I could wax poetic about the beauty of language (above) and its application to various mediums, business and entrepreneurship  included, but that’s not what’s important. I spent the majority of Fall and Spring semester cultivating this idea that I just don’t know how to thrive in topics I’m not interested in. Disinterest does not breed an award winner. What’s important was finding something that made this non-major related class that got in the way of my vacation worth something. And that goes for nearly everything. If it sucks, but you have to do it make it worth something especially in regards to education. Because if you’re just a body in a classroom instead of a mind in a vessel then you’re really just wasting everyone’s time.