Student bodies are a common thing in any school environment. It’s a gathering of like-minded people with a goal and some level of organization. Often we meet students who plan on being hermits. There’s always that one guy who minds his business and doesn’t want to belong to any group that’ll “waste his time.”
This decision, while not bad in itself, deprives this student of a vital part of the learning experience.
You may not understand this now until you start drafting your CV. There’s a lot to learn and gain from these bodies even monetary gains (ask bursary-chopping students). Here are five of them:
1. It builds your people skills
If you have poor people skills, joining a student body may just be your best decision. This skill is important in the real world. As much as within you, try and be active in your group and don’t shy at the opportunity to lead.
2. It helps you be a better public speaker
I once mc’ed an NYSC passing out event and my friends marveled at how well I handled it. To be honest, I sucked at public speaking before entering the university.
I learnt this skill in campus fellowship.
If you’re an active member of any student body, you’ll be called to talk someday. The office environment may not be forgiving if you’re bad at this, but your campus body will be. The experience also helps when defending your final year project.
3. It enhances your CV/Personal statement
If you want to see how shallow/deep your life has been as a professional, write your CV. After doing this, pray you don’t start asking “What have I been doing all these years?”.
The same thing applies to personal statements. A personal statement is one of the requirements for post graduate education abroad. Basically, it’s an essay about your all-round school life, reasons for picking your PG course and your future dreams.
Your personal statement has to be interesting as it may be considered too bland if you were a one-directional student. This may ultimately affect your PG application.
Job interviews often come with questions on what you did during school. Interviewers want to know how much of a resource-person you can be. This is something they can glean from your other activities in school.
4. You get the chance to contribute beyond the classroom
With an association you get to be part of something greater. This may be a sports team or a dance group. You may be a part of the student Red Cross and have the opportunity to offer free health services to rural areas. The possibilities are endless.
5. Personal improvement is inevitable
All-round personal improvement is inevitable. There are students whose lives have changed because they won a student competition through their departmental bodies and represented Nigeria overseas. Such exposure is beyond any textbook.
Student bodies help you learn new skills, expand your network, and become a better professional.
Like I said earlier, you’ll be doing yourself a disservice when you’re not part of any association in school. Yes, you may wonder how you can balance them with school but it is possible. Many have done so before you and many others will after you graduate. In a future post, we’ll examine how to balance school and extra-curricular activities.
There are other great reasons but I hope the above points have been able to drive home my point. Don’t be a closet-student, be active, join a student body.