7. I threatened to transfer colleges during my sophomore year because I believed I was part of a corrupt system.
My freshman year at Dakota Wesleyan University was great. I was part of the volleyball and track teams and got involved in several organizations and projects throughout the year. I loved DWU. I loved the people that worked there. I loved the people that attended and I loved the atmosphere created by everything on campus. I set out to do even more during my sophomore year. I applied for the job of Resident Assistant (RA) and was lucky enough to assist the freshmen on my floor with my duties. The year started off great. We had a fresh new season to work on some more wins in volleyball and my class schedule was looking good. RA training prepared me for a year with new faces and the issues that can sometimes arise and gave me a new understanding of how college can be quite a different journey for some students. My first semester as an RA took me through several trips to the emergency room, numerous late night calls to pick up intoxicated residents and a fire in room 225. Each of these events seemed to create a committee to analyze the issues. As the volleyball season came to a close and we neared the end of the first semester, I received news that our campus pastor was going to be leaving us. Joel, as all the students called him, was a great guy and involved in just about every aspect of DWU campus life. It was hard to imagine the place without him. Joel’s departure left the need for yet another committee to get together to find a replacement. I found my way to this group as I had the previously mentioned ones. Each committee was comprised of individuals from all aspects of the university. I met with the vice president, board of trustees, campus life, fellow students, staff, and community members on numerous occasions. Each of these meetings led me to question policies, personnel, and the overall structure of the university. I found myself getting angry about the chaos of the system I was a part of. I engaged in heated discussions with students in the cafeteria surrounding issues of the college and refused to be a Student Ambassador for the university because I couldn’t justify selling a place I was no longer passionate about. I struggled most of the next semester with my thoughts on whether or not to transfer to a different school. That summer, I stuck around and got to interact with a few people who understood the business of the university, but continued to pour love into it. I came to realize that every organization has issues, but not every business has a great group of people to get them through. I am fortunate to have been part of something that had people like that. I am one of those people. I received a great education from my professors at DWU, but I learned a lot about the world and how it works from the experiences I had and the committees that analyzed them.