After helping to hand out name badges to the new first year class earlier this week with some of my classmates, I sat in on the welcoming speeches. What a different point of view to have already been through first year and hear all that advice from faculty, staff, and other second years. As orientation comes to a close and classes start (for real) on Monday, I figured I'd throw my advice on the pile, as well:
Get really into Darden Cup, but don't let it create animosity between the sections. My section is one of my favorite parts about my Darden experience. Darden Cup events are a blast, especially when you win as much as we did. But losing will bring you all together just as much. So make sure you get to as many events as possible, but don't let the record affect you too much (says someone from a losing section). I think last year there were times when it got overly tense and we all (myself included) needed to take a step back and remember what the point of the Darden Cup is: friendly competition to create a stronger community. And when we argue incessantly with each other about rules violations or go above and beyond the friendly trash talk, it defeats the purpose. So let's try to remember why we're all out there.
It's ok to be stressed out. It's a stressful year and there's no point in hiding that. For some people recruiting will be the thing that breaks them down. For others it will be classes. For others it will be that long-distance relationship they're having trouble maintaining, or juggling family responsibilities in the midst of FY craziness. Learning how to handle the stress is why they throw it all at us. Make sure to reach out to your friends and classmates when you need help and keep an eye out for classmates that look like they just need a hug.
Don’t listen to too much advice from other people. It's gonna be an awesome, scary, wonderful, stressful, fun, growing-experience-full year no matter what you do. No one's going to be able to tell you how to do it best for what you want to accomplish, so just enjoy it.
Get really into Darden Cup, but don't let it create animosity between the sections. My section is one of my favorite parts about my Darden experience. Darden Cup events are a blast, especially when you win as much as we did. But losing will bring you all together just as much. So make sure you get to as many events as possible, but don't let the record affect you too much (says someone from a losing section). I think last year there were times when it got overly tense and we all (myself included) needed to take a step back and remember what the point of the Darden Cup is: friendly competition to create a stronger community. And when we argue incessantly with each other about rules violations or go above and beyond the friendly trash talk, it defeats the purpose. So let's try to remember why we're all out there.
It's ok to be stressed out. It's a stressful year and there's no point in hiding that. For some people recruiting will be the thing that breaks them down. For others it will be classes. For others it will be that long-distance relationship they're having trouble maintaining, or juggling family responsibilities in the midst of FY craziness. Learning how to handle the stress is why they throw it all at us. Make sure to reach out to your friends and classmates when you need help and keep an eye out for classmates that look like they just need a hug.
Don’t listen to too much advice from other people. It's gonna be an awesome, scary, wonderful, stressful, fun, growing-experience-full year no matter what you do. No one's going to be able to tell you how to do it best for what you want to accomplish, so just enjoy it.