Stony Brook is titled the least happy college by the Princeton Review, this may be a little extreme but you have to admit that Stonybook sometimes lacks a strong sense of community. A part of this comes from the fact that a lot of the students commute. However, there is no reason that commuters and resident students can’t still feel a strong sense of pride and community.

A sense of community helps incoming freshmen feel like they belong on campus. There needs to be a feeling that other students are in the same boat as them. This can make the entire campus more social and fun. Stonybrook might have the reputation of being depressing, but in reality, there is a lot to do here and lots of people to meet.

The only problem is that a freshman who is just entering school may not have the means or knowledge or desire to go out of their way to find opportunities to socialize and join organizations. College is a time that should be remembered for all the knowledge aquired,  as well as the many experiences gained on the way. No one wants to look back on their four years in college and feel a sense of regret about not getting involved in clubs, or just generally getting involved with things happening on campus.

The school administration makes a good effort by sponsoring events and trying to raise school pride for sports teams. There is also an involvement fair,  where many different organizations and clubs come and show what they have to offer.

However this fair only lasts a few hours at best and is crowded and hectic. After the fair, students don’t really have a way to find out about clubs and organizations other than word of mouth or Facebook.

The school needs a comprehensive catalogue of clubs and activities that lists exactly when and where different groups meet and what upcoming events they have scheduled, as well as events scheduled by campus. This information is somewhat available on the school website, but is scattered and hard to find. The combination of showing students where to find clubs, organizations and events all located in one place may be the thing we need to start making students feel more involved.

This system would need to be regulated to make sure clubs keep their meeting times and locations current and their list of events updated. The school website about clubs on campus seems to have very old information and does not have any information on some clubs and organizations that do exist.

Being involved on campus would benefit us all greatly. We all have friends who go to other schools and tell us the intense enthusiasm that exists about their spors teams and campus.

Students should make the effort to get out there and see what Stony Brook has to offer and campus itself should make it easier for students to do so.