As college students, we are all at a crossroad in life. The future is a question mark, but in order to try and ensure job opportunities, we are told we must take the right classes, get good grades and have multiple internships/co-ops while balancing finances, possibly holding down jobs and trying to find some time to enjoy our friends and social life. We, the Loquitur editorial staff, wish to advise Cabrini students to add another criteria to that already intimating list and as hard as it might be, it could really go a long way.
Going outside of our respective comfort zones is something that Cabrini encourages in many ways and in every department. For example, as journalists, we are learning the art of storytelling. In order to tell stories, we have to pay attention to things outside our comfort zones. Just this past Monday, an entire senior social work class went to study Occupy Philadelphia. While all of the ECG courses push students into new and significant experiences, many departments also try to introduce students to diverse populations.
Students across every major at Cabrini learn about issues that are affecting the world at large. Whether they are political, social or economic, they are all incredibly important and we are blessed with faculty who are very passionate about helping us learn about the challenges of the world outside Cabrini. However, as students, our challenge is to take that knowledge and search for more. We can’t be satisfied with only learning about what we get in the classroom. Teachers can only fit so much into a period; the rest is up to us.
Obviously, Cabrini students do incredible work with the many communities and institutions that have partnerships with the college. We try to live up to the motto of the college of “doing something extraordinary,” by how we act inside these walls and out, especially when we are working with those different than ourselves. Rising to these challenges make us extraordinary.
While our work is helpful and important, we should be forming a life-long habit of concerning ourselves with the world. Specifically, many of us on the editorial staff are told quite frequently that it is a concern for our generation that we focus way too much time and energy on things that are insignificant in contrast to the major issues of today. It’s not easy to develop a deep concern for topics that are really hard to understand. It’s much more entertaining and comfortable to commit ourselves to things we already know and love, but life-changing events and issues are rarely easy to understand.
Cabrini offers so many amazing opportunities to gain this important type of knowledge outside of the classroom. Did you attend the domestic violence forum on campus? Did you participate in or take notice of any of the Fair Trade events that have occurred this month? Do you attend these types of events or research similar topics purely for class or for extra credit? Either way, if you did attend, no matter the reason, that’s very good for you but don’t just go because you have to; go because you are interested and you care, as an educated person.
As global citizens, it is crucial for us to pay attention because attention goes a long way. This time last year, Sudan was facing a potential genocide. There are many reasons why the genocide was avoided, but the fact that so many Americans paid attention forced the government to care and that definitely played an important part.
As mentioned earlier, as college students, we are at a crossroads. Well, so is our world, especially the United States. That is why we are of the demographic that needs to pay attention the most. We are the future and we can pave the way for a better future. However, we can’t shape the future if we don’t pay attention to the present.
