Finding My Place: How Campus Clubs Turned College Loneliness into Community

As we approach the end of the first few weeks on campus, I've finally learned the importance of connecting with others. College can be lonely, exhilarating, and nerve-racking, and sometimes you may find yourself feeling uncertain about your place and purpose.

Personally, I struggled to find my place among thousands of students. It’s easy to feel like a speck, especially when you hardly know anyone yet. This can be an even greater challenge for students who have come from out of state or overseas, leaving their friends, family, country, and city miles away. It’s easy to become disconnected. For me, connecting and finding my place started with campus events and clubs.

RIT hosts a variety of clubs that organize numerous events. It’s a butterfly effect. During the yearly club fair, I met representatives from many clubs ranging from sports and sororities to fraternities, religious groups, cultural organizations, game clubs, hiking, artist groups, international clubs, music clubs, sustainability initiatives, engineering, and robotics—the list goes on.

I spent most of the fair wandering around and meeting different clubs, even if I had no intention of joining any. I discovered the Outing Club, which goes on trips every weekend, mostly in nature. There’s also Taekwondo, Dungeons & Dragons Club, our school publication, the Reporter, and clubs for swimming, hockey, ice skating, and curling. A few faith-based organizations like Cru were also present. Regardless of my intentions to join, everyone was inviting and welcoming. The Curling Club, although it wasn’t for me, allowed me to hold a curling stone, and Taekwondo let me break a board in half very skillfully.

You don’t have to join every club to enjoy and experience them. By the end of the fair, I had at least 20 clubs I wanted to join and activities I wanted to try, but I ended up narrowing it down to three: Swim Club, The Cru, and Taekwondo.

Within these clubs, I started to find communities. I began to discover my place as I met people who were passionate about similar interests or eager to learn and grow together. Whether it’s becoming “One of Us” in the beginner lane of Swim Club, where we spend our time learning new techniques and improving together, or growing in faith with Cru through fun community group activities and playing capture the flag after our large group meetings, I’ve felt a sense of belonging.

Being part of groups like these has helped me form a sense of community here at RIT. I’ve met amazing people who have become friends, continuously motivating and supporting me while providing ample opportunities to connect with campus life. I’ve developed a strong circle within the Cru community beyond our meetings, including group hangouts that welcome anyone to join. I have the most fun with them before community groups and large group meetings. Often, we go to the RITZ for pasta and good times. After large group, we play games—my favorite so far has been capture the flag, despite being caught within the first five minutes. It was fun watching others try to evade capture while I waited to be freed from jail. Although my team struggled a bit at the beginning, we won the first round, which was rewarding.

The Swim Team continues to encourage me to push myself through challenging sets, and we feed off each other’s energy. We’ve truly formed a bond in lane one and look forward to seeing each other. We’re also learning a bit of sign language to communicate with another member of our lane. I can now successfully spell “trust” and say “late” in sign language. It’s quite amusing when one of us tries to sign something poorly to another person across the pool, often ending in confusion. Every practice brings something new; it has become an integral part of my day. I'm always looking forward to it and excited to see who will join us in beginner lane 1.

So, I encourage you to stop by a club, give something new a try, and embrace the experience. You never know what new connections you’ll make.