Hello! Are you an incoming freshmen or prospective student that can’t recall the last time you had to introduce yourself to someone new? Or maybe you’d describe yourself as outgoing, but the prospect of reinventing yourself terrifies you to no end? Do you honestly have no idea how you’re going to make friends in college? Well, join the club, kid. Contrary to what my snark might suggest, however, I have a solution for you.
The Leadership and Experimental Learning Department at Rutgers hosts a summer program called “Camp UKnight”, a three-day getaway to Stony Acres in the Poconos, which has two sessions in the beginning of August. According to its website, its mission is to “to help incoming first year and transfer students build an instant and sustainable community of friends to help ease the transition into college life.” I signed up for Camp UKnight not only for the deliciously layered pun, but because the prospect of starting meeting new people, to some extent, frightened me. Rutgers has a population of approximately 40,000 students, and for a 5’0 girl like me it’s easy to get overwhelmed and lost in the crowd. True to its mission statement, however, Camp UKnight introduced me to a group of people who helped me find my niche before I officially became a Scarlet Knight.
Without going into too much detail (a cardinal sin that I am well-known for by my peers), Camp UKnight has students engage in trust and team-building exercises, among them being the ropes course and hiking through Boulder Field.

While I was enthusiastic to start climbing, I quickly realized: I’m afraid of heights.

Team leader Chris and his group working together to move their trolley across the field faster than the previous group. I was in that previous group and, sad to say, they beat us.
Why should you attend Camp UKnight? I will admit, the program doesn’t offer you life-altering advice, but it presents you with something, in my opinion, more profound: an opportunity. If you’re nervous about what college might bring you, the best thing you can do is to take a deep breath and leap. You might discover something new about yourself.

If you are not willing to put yourself out there, you may miss out on incredible experiences, or people.