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You are here: Home / Opinion / Columns / College teaches about smaller things in life

College teaches about smaller things in life

May 2, 2008 by Jared Fields

By Jared Fields, Editor in Chief

I came to ACU, fell in love with it, met lots of great people, got involved and will remember it fondly.

The End.

Well, not exactly.

I didn’t know I was going to attend ACU till mid-June after my high school graduation. In fact, ACU was the last place I said I’d go. I learned my lesson about saying, “I’ll never.”

Hating Chapel as a freshman and sophomore, I discovered I loved to hate it more than I plain hated it. However, like many romantic comedies, that distaste soon turned into appreciation, liking, and yes, even love for such a daily occurrence.

Chapel was one example, but I didn’t transfer to another school just because I didn’t like a few policies. It never crossed my mind, and I’m glad it didn’t.

I’ve learned and grown a lot the last four years and wish everyone could come away with something as meaningful as I have.

With the end of the school year comes a lot of pro-ACU material, so I won’t saturate the market with more.

Instead, I have some advice you won’t hear anywhere else.

First, you don’t have to pay much for coffee on campus. If you have to be fancy and buy the drinks with names longer than Prince, then you’ll have to pay.

But for a regular cup o’ joe, the price is much more economical. One place to go is on the first floor of the Admin Building. The School of Social Work has 25-cent Fair Trade coffee in its conference room. Also, many department offices have coffee-makers with readily available coffee for faculty and staff. Don’t ask about that coffee, just take it until someone says you can’t.

Next, do something semi-illegal on campus with some friends. Now, I’m not advocating anything that would get you a class C misdemeanor and I’m not offering theoretical or personal examples.

Do something that doesn’t harm anyone or anything though, and you’ll have a good story to tell about what you did in college.

Now, everyone meets great people and thinks their friend group is the best on campus, but there are many people here we don’t get the chance to know. For a change of pace, find someone to Facebook stalk. Reality TV draws huge ratings for a reason, so what better way to spend some time than following someone’s life through such a primary source?

One disclaimer guys, don’t pick a pretty girl and stalk her with the hopes of a “chance” meeting someday.

For example, I Facebook stalk someone who wrote a Letter to the Editor once my junior year. Now, I don’t just waste time on Facebook, I have a purpose to check it on a daily occurrence. It’s like my own version of The Truman Show.

A lot of people speak about their ACU experience with grand, inspirational stories and insightful wisdom. That’s not me though.

For me, it’s the small things that make the ACU difference.

Filed Under: Columns

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About Jared Fields

You are here: Home / Opinion / Columns / College teaches about smaller things in life

Other Opinion:

  • Tariffs are the last thing struggling students need

  • Gen Z won the election for Donald Trump

  • A Swift rebuke: When it comes to politics, celebrities just do not get it

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"Ending my college education early was always the plan for me, but the things that I have been able to see, experience and examine about ACU’s community were not. I have found immense growth in ACU over the past three and a half years, but ACU still has a long road to climb if it wants to keep catering to students as the world changes around them." To read more of this article visit acuoptimist.com or click the link in our bio. #acu #abilenechristianuniversity #privatechristianuniversity #collegestudentopinion #acuopinion ... See MoreSee Less

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