The Nurturer

One of the greatest challenges for anyone joining college is managing the new acquired freedom and what to do in their free time.

There are numerous nonacademic activities that take place in the University to enrich students lives, build their capacity, provide relaxation, empower them, and improve their life skills and emotional intelligence. Identify which one resonates well with your goal, needs, career, skills, talents, amount of free time you have etc. Below are some of the groups that you can join and be actively involved in or events that you can participate in include:

1. Counseling department-enroll at the counseling department as a peer counselor, once considered, participate in various mentorship and empowerment activities organized by the department. Visit the counseling office and get to know the program for that semester so that you do not miss out. You can also suggest some of the areas/issues that you would want them to address/undertake next .
2. Games & sports department– they have various indoors and outdoors activities for students. 3.
3. Students organization activities – these are activities organized by the students leaders e.g. modeling contests , inter class/school competitions etc
4. Artistic groups-there various groups for students with various artistic skills/ interests e.g. in theatre, spoken word, singing, playing instruments, etc
5. School /course clubs and associations e.g. Education Students association,Environment students association etc- they will expose you to the job market requirements, mentors and possible employers. Members also participate in professional seminars, workshops and conferences where they gain a wealth of knowledge and get opportunity to interact with professionals in the field which help them establish valuable networks.
6. Form study groups-to help you understand better the topics taught in class and to prepare for exams. Members of your study groups becomes your accountability partners to support you when studies weigh you down or you do not seem to click anything in a given area/ topic, alert you in case you start drifting off from academics, challenge you to do or achieve more etc.
7. Attend course/career / leadership related talks, seminars and workshops- go with an agenda –to learn, network etc so do not attend just for the sake of it and at the end of it other than the selfies you have nothing to show in terms of what you learnt and the value it has added to your life. So always carry a note book and a pen to write important information and contacts of your new career development network. Write down questions also that you would like answered. This keeps you focused. Get also contacts of the facilitators that you would like to contact in future. If given an opportunity to speak in such events, just know someone somewhere is watching /listening to you and from your presentation they may want to involve you in what they do or partner with you in what you are doing in case for example you have an initiative. Am simply saying do not just sit and listen but also contribute to the discussion and assist where necessary e.g. in setting up training equipment / materials, arranging this or that or distributing this or that. Those who stand out in such events are likely to get more opportunities in future than those who always attend and remain silent/ make noise in the background, disrupt unnecessarily.
8. Religious groups-e.g. Christian Union (C .U), Catholic Students Association (C.S.A),Muslim etc. They organize various activities and events both spiritual and social for their members from time to time each semester. E.g. retreats,prayer meetings, seminars/ workshops, keshas, mission/ evangelism, inter varsity visits and contests, conferences, hikes, bashes and more. This will vary from one group to another.
9. Can also form a purposeful club and register with the Dean of students office and mobilize students for a worthy course.
10. Can team up with friends and visit children’s home, orphanages and rehabs in the neighborhood or go for hikes over the weekend, public holidays etc.
11. Volunteer- in any area relevant to your life-spiritual, social, academic, career, social activities. They are valuable opportunities to learn a lot of things e.g. aspects of job market not taught in class, and practice your skills, learn to work as a team and get along with others. Some of the activities you can engage in include teaching Sunday school, motivating students in neighboring schools, singing in the choir, playing the instruments in church, baby sit in a day care or an orphanage, volunteer in an activity taking place in school. Do not be selfish and only think of paid activities. Knowledge, skills, experience gained and opportunities that arise from those voluntary activities and new networks of friends that you get from such voluntary activities are far more valuable than money. More often than not students who learn to volunteer early in college hardly get stuck after graduation.They have enough networks and things to do with themselves than those who did not engage in any and only waited or looked for paid opportunities and may be did not succeed/ have not yet succeeded. Many of those students also land their jobs / identify and pursue their purposes in life long before graduation or immediately after graduation. They do not worry about what will become of them after college. Actually they look forward to completing their studies because they have a lot to do/ accomplish. They are also busy and have no time to idle around or engage in destructive behavior. So get out of your comfort zone and pursue opportunities where you can volunteer. So your University life does not need to be dull buried in books all the time, or with negative friends, partying and making merry all the time and engaging in vices that will finally do you harm and deter you from obtaining your goal. You may not see the value of doing so for a start/ immediately but with time you will leap the benefits. Lastly, ensure that you balance these activities with your studies. Do not be carried away and forget your original goal of joining the University.