Getting Involved In College Essay

Getting involved while in college is important because it helps you make connections that will be crucial in the future and it pulls you away from just thinking about class. There are countless ways to get involved on campus, it is virtually impossible not to find an activity you are not interested in. I have always considered myself a dabbler, even as a child I played every sport, painted, danced, I will try anything. I appreciate the availability of information on all the activities and ways to get involved. Professionalism and Life Skills was a valuable resource for getting information about campus life. This class also prepared me for the initial journey into my professional career. It is important for a college campus to have ways to get involve. It is just as important to broadcast information about getting involved. In my opinion the idea of club con is an exceptional one but, as I entered the crowded dimly lit room I was more overwhelmed than informed. I was excited no doubt about that but left feeling full of cookies rather than enlightened by what opportunities all these clubs had to offer. The music was overpowering; I spoke with a representative from what I thought was the photography club about meeting time to discover later from a flyer it was the
African American club. However, I did end up joining a health club, in all the chaos a little meditation sounded nice. I have never thought of myself as a person who is actively promoting a healthy lifestyle but, I can be whoever I want in college right?
It turns out I cannot jump on the consciously healthy lifestyle train. The health club is a great club; it is a great way to get active but Sunday meetings are not my ideal time for being functional. I would rather spend my Sundays lounging around instead of socializing. Being in college classes where I am working in a team all of the time makes me crave my alone time. I like the idea of being active but I do not necessarily go out of my way to live and eat healthy. I have since moved on and plan to focus my time and energy on something I am actually interested
in. I have been exposed to few clubs that genuinely intrigued me, until recently during a theory lecture Monday morning. The culinary science club on campus advised by Dr. Chris Loss, a professor of the culinary science department, piqued my interest. Being involved in this club would be thought-provoking and ultimately help expand my knowledge of food, which is why I came to the CIA in the first place. Learning the science behind food is invaluable to any apprising chef. By joining this club, I hope to be able to explore the bachelor program without making a full commitment to the department. I have since reached out to Dr. Chris Loss to receive further information about the club and I look forward to hearing back and attending to see what it is all about. After this class comes to an end I plan to still get involved in the months following before I leave for externship. I am considering joining the basketball team in the winter as long as it does not interfere with getting my classwork done. I have always enjoyed being on a team and the nature of it. Playing a sport brings people together and creates those bonds that last a lifetime. I think playing a sport here would really be about playing and enjoying yourself rather than over competitive and only trying to win. I am not the type to beat myself up when I lose at something and it seems that the sports teams here at the CIA are in good spirits the majority of the time. It is important to have a life outside of the kitchen that let distracts you from working all the time and being a part of the basketball team would be an excellent way to get myself out of my own head. I think the most challenging part of college is finding the time to do all the activities and classwork while still getting an appropriate amount sleep. As I am starting to actually feel comfortable in my schedule and at ease with the work I must do to be successful in class, a new set of classes starts. I no longer know what my course load will entail for my academic classes. Gastronomy and nutrition could have double the homework as my previous two classes or they could take up minimal amount of my time outside of the classroom. This makes it hard for me to commit to clubs or teams because, I feel it is necessary to get adjust before overloading myself. However, I know that in this industry I will have to adjust to situations where I am overwhelmed and will have no to adjust and will have to muscle through it. I need to start to challenge myself here rather than just doing what I need to do to pass, because that will not make me the best cook I can be. Being taught by someone who is excited and passionate about what they do makes a class easier and more enjoyable. When I first read Professionalism and Life Skills on my schedule I did not know what to expect, in a way I felt it would be rather irrelevant, and now as the class is coming to an end I am disappointed it is not a longer course. I have learned so much about the steps you have to take outside of the kitchen to be successful as a cook and as a professional in general. To me it was a fundamentals class for starting a career. Writing essays every week seemed like a lot at first but, I have started to enjoy writing more and I feel each essay I write the better I become. It has been a challenge for me in the past to get my thoughts down on paper the exact way I want them. Now I am able to deliver my words more fluently and get what I am trying to say down on paper with ease. Group activities had always been my enemy before coming to the CIA and this class and every other class I have has taught me how important it is to learn to work with others as I team. I simply cannot be successful in this industry if I am not able to work as I team. Therefore, the more group activities the better. I appreciated the concept of Dr. JJ’s kickball, as new rules emerged I noticed that if you strike your whole team goes down with you. Overall after taking this class I feel educated in the importance of getting involved and making connections as well as the key points in starting my career as a professional cook.