Do you feel it? Feels promising, no? That’s what a new year feels like — and boy is this a new year for Otterbein.
We’ve completely changed the way we do things around here. (See ya, quarters.) We’ve got a fancy new bridge, a bunch of new administrators, a whole gaggle of fresh-faced first-years and heck, even our familiar tree-lighting ceremony tree is gone (although our president assures us that a new one will take its place).
To some, this wave of change may bring about a little anxiety (who am I kidding? I’m stressing out already), but for these folks I am hopeful that you will find a silver lining in all of this and take the optimistic approach.
We should all start fresh with a little pep in our steps. We should whistle while we walk and wave to people on bikes. We’re a musically centric school, why not a little choreographed dance in the CC to get us through those wonderful meals, or some theme music to and from classes? You’re never fully dressed without a smile — unless you’re taking ochem this fall. In that case, please feel free to pull your hair out.
And let’s be kind to the freshmen. Sure, college is old hat now, but if you think back, your freshmen year wasn’t exactly the easiest thing you’ve ever done. Wouldn’t it have been nice if someone told you during freshman year that the theater kids always sit to the right of the Cardinal’s Nest and the football guys in the left front?
Or that the doors to the registrar’s office and the mailroom in Towers are incredibly heavy and you will, in fact, look like a fool trying to open up the one on the left?
Or that you could have taken exercise walking as your HPES class instead of struggling through the massive amount of work that is actually “Surviving College the Healthy Way”?
Keep your karma in check and lend a hand. The freshmen will be easy to spot — the boys will be visible because they won’t have undergone the drastic change that happens to them between freshman and sophomore year, and the girls will be identifiable because they will still be wearing cute clothes to class and to “social endeavors.”
Here’s to a new year, from our organization to yours. Let’s make it count.
