I hope you have been enjoying your first look at The Polytechnic. I’ve made it my habit to lampoon the “Standard GM Column” at various points during the year. There really are only a few standard ones, but lucky for you—and my editor waiting for this—this happens to be one of them.

Grand Marshals have a wonderful habit of using their summer column to let the incoming freshmen know about the 130 clubs that are waiting for you to find them, and of the greek system, which is waiting to find you. All of these things are here, and I encourage each and every one of you to take a few seconds in the fall—if you can pull yourself away from your new laptop—to discover all of the ways you can get involved.

Since this is Student Orientation, you really don’t have much to worry about. Enjoy your first two days on campus. Make some friends, and exchange AIM screen names and chat for the rest of the summer. Somehow the people you meet over these two days will stick in your head even after you meet the next couple hundred in the fall. If you’re lucky, you’ll even run into your future roommate.

Now that I have the required recruitment pitch and standard Student Orientation welcome taken care of, the rest of this space is free for me to use as I please. Go have fun. Put down the newspaper and get outside. You have two days on campus, and despite what everyone here tells you, the only thing that you actually have to do is register for your fall classes. Everything else is optional. That’s the greatest secret of Student Orientation. If you’re not enjoying something, go do something you like.

If you happen to be one of the lucky few that are here for orientation on a weekend, feel free to come and visit me in my office in the Union. I’m on the third floor, in the room marked Student Government Suite. I should be in on Saturdays, and I’ll do my best to make myself available. As much as I make this offer, hardly ever do I get a student outside of student government wandering in. Feel free to surprise me, and if I’m not here, leave me a note!

Troy will be your new home for the next four (or five or six) years, and I hope you take interest in the school and your community. More directly, if you’re not registered to vote at home, I would like you to register to vote in Troy. Over the last few years, we have begun to make our voices heard through our votes. By registering, and then voting in significant numbers, local politicians are beginning to listen to the needs and wants of the students. You’ll be hearing more from me on this issue as the year begins, but I want to plant the seed in your mind now.