Brandon Leibfred
PHS '16, Montclair State University '20
Choosing to commute to a college or university can be an extremely difficult decision for a high-school graduate to make. Thoughts of saying goodbye to childhood friends, missing out on the “college experience” and others can lead to unwanted stresses and anxiety. When I began my college career as a commuter, I had no idea of the many opportunities it would open for me. These opportunities allowed me to have a college experience that was enjoyable, successful, and character building.
Joining A Sports Team
One of the best ways to ensure you get yourself involved with other students and groups on campus is by joining a college sports team! Colleges offer many sports teams that compete at NCAA, club, and intramural levels, leaving options for people of all different interest levels. Joining a sports team for me was a great way to get in touch with my roots and bring back memories from competing through my years in school. My teammates and I developed relationships that carried outside of the gym, we helped one another with schoolwork, we worked at on-campus jobs together, and we became the best of friends. Joining a sports team at college was the perfect activity for me to take a break from jobs and schoolwork, I highly recommend it to all college students.
Student Employee
Working a job while attending a college or university can be one of the most difficult times for a student in their academic career. While difficult, if done properly, it can be one of the best character-building activities a student partakes in. It is important for students to work at jobs in which they can apply their studies to. For example, an accounting student would find a large amount of connections to their studies at school with a bookkeeping job. Finding jobs that have connections to your studies allow you to reinforce the information you are learning and allow you to gain confidence in applying your studies to real-world application. Students who work a part-time job while attending school also allow themselves to build up savings for the future and learn important money management skills. Working at a part-time job also makes the internship process significantly easier for these students. Showing an employer that you can handle a busy schedule will always put you ahead of your competition.
Find Your College’s SGA
The Student Government Association (SGA) consists of a variety of different organizations for students to become apart of. Whether you are looking to join Greek Life, become apart of volunteer groups, or join a club related to your future career, the SGA has everything you are looking for. The SGA makes the joining of these groups super easy and has all the information disposable for students. Getting involved with on-campus activities is one of the most challenging aspects of being a commuter. The SGA makes it their mission to ensure any student can have an enjoyable experience, and find a group that they are able to bond with.