The Best Decision I’ve Ever Made

Hi Everyone! My name is Meghan Kiely and I am currently a junior here at The College of Saint Rose! Adjusting to life at college is something that was really difficult for me. Home is four hours away from here, and I had never really been away from home at all until college. That definitely was a hard adjustment and I was very homesick my freshman year. However, I made a huge mistake that could have completely changed my attitude: I didn’t get involved on campus.

There are so many opportunities for students to get involved here at Saint Rose. Last year I decided to take a risk and join a club. I decided to join Student Events Board (or, SEB). This student-run organization helps to plan fun events for students! It was really fun, helped fill up some of my schedule, a good item to add to my resume, and I met a lot of really amazing people!

This year, I was actually chosen to become the chairperson of one of the SEB event boards! I am the chairperson of the Musical Entertainment committee. It’s a huge responsibility, but it’s so rewarding to see so much effort all play out into one amazing event.

I have put on two events so far. The first was Music Fest, and the most recent was Karaoke Night. Music Fest was a night out on the campus green where we feasted on a huge barbecue and learned several country line dances from Kevin Richards, a radio DJ from 107.7 WGNA! About 80 people came out and tried something new and listened to a little country music. It was a blast! Karaoke Night was another extremely successful event, with around 120 people in attendance. We had people singing from 7:30-9:30PM. Some performances were so beautiful and there was so much talent, but I definitely had an appreciation for those who got up there and made everyone laugh and brought a smile to everyone’s faces (AKA. Myles Clendenin belting out “We Belong Together” by Mariah Carey). It was so much fun and so rewarding to see how all my planning and my committee’s planning paid off.

Top photo is Myles during his wild performance at Karaoke Night, the bottom photo features some of the SEB chairs at Music Fest!

If I had one suggestion for everyone out there it would be: GET INVOLVED. I am so much happier now that I know I have a say in what goes on on campus, and I know that I can help plan an event that everyone will forget about their exams and papers that they have to do and give them a place to just let loose and have fun. Whether it’s Student Events Board, Student Association, an intramural sports team, etc, – Just do it! Take a leap of faith! I promise you won’t regret it.