The Zinch Report

I'm not an especially outgoing person, but I didn't think too much about how I would make friends or how hard it would be to connect with people in college. I sort of took it for granted that it would happen, and it did, but for certain concrete reasons. I signed up to play in the marching band. I wasn't going to when I first heard about it, not because I didn't want to, but because I didn't think I could work it into my schedule. In my religion we observe the sabbath from friday night at sundown to saturday night at sundown, so I naturally thought that the marching band wouldn't want a student in the band who would miss so much practice and a lot of football games. However, the Vanderbilt marching band, named the Spirit of Gold, is open to anyone who wants to join, and they have been completely kind and generous about my beliefs and about my absences. I am very, very thankful because through the band I have been able to meet and get to know lots of people that I have things in common with, and have been able to be a part of Vanderbilt in a unique way. I feel like I have been able to contribute to the university community instead of just taking academic resources and meals (considering I had to pay so little of the tuition because of this wonderful scholarship). It's easy to meet acquaintances at a university, but it's not so easy to make close friends. Because of the large number of people, you can learn one person's name, and then not see them for the rest of the semester. The marching band has given me an opportunity to meet and get to know people, and really find those I can connect with. It takes time away from studying, but college is about more than good grades, although that's an integral part. I think some of the people I've met here could help me improve my character as well as my academic intelligence.