Huntington Avenue is silent. The icy snow mixture crunches with my hurried footsteps to Dodge Hall. I’m running through the spiel I’m about to tell the parents of prospective students coming to Northeastern on this chilly spring Saturday morning. My thoughts are momentarily interrupted by the balloons I pass by, seemingly out of place, tied around the fence of Krentzman Quad. “Well, that’s some show of pride,” I muse.
Back to my spiel, from the top. “Hi, my name is Julia Fisher and I’m president.” Well, doesn’t that sound strange. I never got used to the title, I never really deserved it. Our organization, Pi Sigma Epsilon, needed someone to be the leader, and I was more than eager. Our organization is relatively new to Northeastern. After starting about three years ago, we are still using most of our resources to focus on growth and reaching the student body. We don’t have the status of the hockey team, DivestNU or the Nor’easters – all wonderful groups might I add. I guess that’s the ramification of the co-op cycle.
My sophomore year I decided I wanted to be as involved as possible in campus life. An effort to stick true to those college application essays I wrote as a high school senior. Also, maybe, to create some distraction from the increasingly difficult classes I seemed to just pile on. By the end of my sophomore year, I had learned that maintaining a new club at Northeastern is not easy, for three reasons. Reason one: the administration. Reason two: student life. Reason three: the frigid weather and the laziness it tends to cause in college students.
During my term as president, it was evident that we needed to be proactive and resilient in order to get our foot in the door with booking rooms, planning events and so on. There were times our e-board was sent in circles, to find that we could not plan something from the start. It seemed that regulations and red tape were everywhere – not to mention that it felt as if any message we sent out to the student body was not received. We could advertise on many mediums, both internal and external to Northeastern, and we found that the word was hard to spread.
As a member of a sports team as well, I found it difficult to raise money. I was part of the women’s water polo team, which was absolutely incredible. I never thought I would swim that much in my life. And I was the slowest swimmer on the team, and arguably the worst player. Regardless, they are a great group of ladies and deserve a lot more than what the school can offer. For a short amount of time, I was helping them try to finance away games and competitions. What seemed like the only solution was letters to relatives and friends, asking for money.
Along with the bad there is always the good. The very essence of which cannot exist without the other. I learned that it is more than possible to flourish if you are passionate about what you are starting. It is important to want something and go after it. You cannot be president of anything if you are not ready to advocate for your cause 100 percent. I learned a lot about delegating, working with otwhers and speaking in public., but I have a lot to learn. Everyone should be encouraged to be a part of something they love to do. As fellow students, we need to be more aware of what is happening on campus. Northeastern is in the middle of a bustling city so we get a chance to experience Boston, but we shouldn’t forget to experience Northeastern.
– Julia Fisher is an international business junior.
Photo courtesy COD Newsroom, Creative Commons.
