Campus Life at NIU

My Campus Activities Life  by: Dyeato Paye 

    Along with college parties, involving myself in extracurricular activities was something I wanted to refrain from for my first semester at NIU. The reason why I didn't want to do any extracurricular activities in college was because I had done so many while I was in high school that I was afraid that I going to burn myself out like they way I did when I was in high school. When I went to my high school I had always made sure that I was doing something every season in the school year and getting involved is fun, but when it feels like you don't have time in your life just to breathe then it almost starts to feel like a burden. Even though I had had such a good time being involved in the after school activities that I did back in high school, I still wanted to force myself to not do anything in college because I didn't want to put myself in that position of feeling burnt out all over again. 

    Knowing how much it would hurt me if I didn't at least try, I had realized that if I just focus on my academic studies in college and nothing else, that ultimately I would feel depressed and unhappy. Feeling a tad bit conflicted and also frustrated, I decided to make a mental note on interests that I have that I could possibly build more on while I am in college. The mental note I had of all of my interests weren't just all the interests that I had but were the ones that I personally believed could help me grow more as a person the fastest. I had to really think of the interests that I had and that I knew I would actually carve out time to make in practicing and building on the skills that are required for such activities. Another factor that also helped me narrow down what activities I could potentially join without making me feel like I was simultaneously helping and hurting my self by just being involved, was the student activities fair. Since there are a lot more activities and organizations in college than in high school, I figured if I could get some sort of idea of how many activities I would be choosing from it would be a lot easier for me to not trap myself in getting involved in way too many. 

   Furthermore, for my freshman year of college I decided to take part in activities that would build me more in my faith and my ethnic identity. So far, I am only in three activities/organizations. The first one I joined was the Northern Black Choir or also known as NBC. I joined this organization because I have always had a love for singing and I wanted to explore more in all things choir, particularly gospel music. From the moment I have stepped inside the music building at NIU till now singing and practicing the songs in choir, I have this indescribable, and positive feeling when I go sing with the Northern Black Choir. The next club that I knew I definitely would want to join would be ASA or African Student Association. This particular organization was a must for me because as someone who identifies as African, besides my family, I never really grew up around other African people, let alone ones who come from different African countries. Joining ASA was more of a personal odyssey for me to experience learning more about one portion of my ethnic identity.  BSU or Black Student Union was also a must for me too because I also identify as a an African American and I wanted to learn more about black culture and being a part of an organization that promotes ethnic diversity and unity. So far I don't feel as overwhelmed as I did when I was in high school regarding to joining after school activities, and I plan to keep it that way.