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Today@Sam Article

Convocation Speaker Encourages New Students To Take Action, Attend NSC

Aug. 4, 2014
SHSU Media Contact: Jennifer Gauntt

 

Senior mass communication major Alexis Bloomer will address incoming freshmen as the student speakers at this year's New Student Convocation. Below, she recalls how SHSU has given her opportunities that she never thought she'd have and tells incoming students that by making the most of their college experience, they, too, can achieve whatever they set out for. New Student Convocation will welcome freshmen to SHSU on Aug. 24, at 4 p.m. in the Gaertner Performing Arts Center Concert Hall, followed by a dinner and celebration in the Lowman Student Center Mall Area. For more details, click here.

 

As soon as you cross the stage from your high school graduation, everything moves so fast. Before you know it, you are packing and getting ready to move to Sam Houston State University to start the next chapter in your life. I thought that I was ready, but I soon realized that the “real world” is a lot scarier than they lead on. I remember the feeling of watching my parents drive off and feeling so alone and anxious. My dad left me a note that said, “Give it four weeks and you’ll have that place wired."

To this day, I still have that note and laugh at how nervous I was being a freshman. Just like every other new college student, I had trouble finding my classes and I worried about making new friends. Like my dad said, by my fourth week of college, I had started to figure it out. I was always involved in high school, so I knew that I had to find my niche at college and try to make things feel as normal as possible. I might have gone a little overboard and joined three too many organizations—I joined my sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha, and became pledge class vice president, and it was almost as if that was the start of my campus involvement. Joining organizations has helped me become a better student and has introduced me to friends that I will have for the rest of my life.

Since I first enrolled three years ago, everyone has told me that I was made for SHSU, but I finally see what they were talking about. SHSU has provided me endless opportunities and supported me in all of my endeavors. In my time at SHSU, I have been involved in Zeta Tau Alpha, Order of Omega, National Broadcasting Society; I have been the media coordinator for the SHSU Rodeo Team, been a DJ on 90.5 The Kat, was the Channel 7 News Anchor; and become a sweetheart for the fraternity Alpha Tau Omega. I have hosted events like the Official Student Award Ceremony, the 19th Annual Sammys, and the Greek Award Show The Pantheon. I competed for the SHSU Mass Communications Department in radio announcing. I was even able to bring my national radio show, on Sirius XM, “Alexis Bloomer, Off the Record” to Sam Houston, so that I can work and still go to school full time. I’ve been able to spread Bearkat pride on the red carpet at the American Country Music Awards, and, now, this summer I’ve traveled to New York to intern for Dan Rather. SHSU gave me these opportunities, and I’m forever grateful for the support that they have shown me inside and outside of the classroom.

When you are at SHSU, you learn more from the classroom of life than you do anywhere else. If I could offer any advice, it would be to attend everything you can, including events such as the New Student Convocation. I am the first person in my family to attend college, and I wanted the full college experience, I think that is the best way for anyone to get started when coming to SHSU. The New Student Convocation is an official ceremony welcoming new students like you. This is the beginning of the rest of your four years, and you’ll remember this moment for the rest of your life.

One of my first memories of SHSU is receiving my pin at the New Student Convocation; that is when I realized that all my hard work had paid off. Take advantage of events like the New Student Convocation, because you are only a freshman once and you only get these opportunities once. Being a speaker this year and former convocation attendee, I can promise you that this will ignite a sense of pride in you that you will continue to have for the rest of your life. College is full of traditions and a lot of them you make yourself, but it is so neat to realize that you are continuing the traditions that have been in place for generations before you. Events like New Student Convocation are the perfect way to get your feet in the water and meet new people, build new friendships and learn about all that Sam Houston State University has to offer. The next four years of your life go by so fast, but the memories you make will last a lifetime.

 

 

 

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