Participating makes Union fees money well spent

Posted 09-01-2006 at 6:16PM

Welcome back to another year at Rensselaer. I hope your summer experience went well and you are as eager as I am to jump back into life here in Troy. My summer was absolutely fantastic. It was, in fact, one of the best summers I’ve ever had. I spent three months working with Bank of America and living in New York City. Even though my job responsibilities and team were fantastic, you might rightfully assume that the paycheck was the best part. Well, it certainly didn’t hurt, but that’s not what made my summer so great. I made the conscious decision to take advantage of the New York City experience to the fullest. Though I worked diligently and enjoyed doing so, I also spent the summer visiting museums, never eating at the same place twice, exploring the endless nightlife, and getting off at random subway stops just to see what was there.

Life in New York City is expensive, incredibly expensive. There was, quite literally, a price to pay for the wonderful summer I had. To many, a salary of $15,000 seems like a great deal of money to earn during the summer. Yet I returned to campus last week exactly $237.48 poorer than when I left on May 20th. After Uncle Sam took his share and I doled out for a great apartment around Columbia University, I was still left with a reasonable amount. Many people argued that I should save that money for later this year. But I didn’t listen. It may very well be the case that I will never again have the opportunity to live in New York City. Why waste the chance to have an experience I might never have again? So I took that chance and expended my resources ensuring that I had the opportunity to meet new people, learn about the great city that NYC is, and emerge a worldlier and better person because of it.

By now I’m sure you’re saying to yourself, “That’s great James, but what the heck does this have to do with me?” That’s actually quite simple to answer. In many ways you have the same opportunity to experience new things, meet new people and have an absolute blast doing so, for what is comparatively an absolute bargain! For the mere price of $490.50, your activity fee gives you access to things such as 178 clubs for every interest and activity you can imagine, intramurals, special events all year long, athletic teams and facilities, and all the services provided by the Union. Make good use of your money and your time by making the effort to explore and take advantage of everything the Union has to offer. Whether this week represents the start of your first-year experience or that of your culminating year experience, I challenge you to make this year the year you try something new, reach out to a new group of friends, and decide for yourself that this is going to be your best year yet at RPI.