Seattle Pacific University is a small university, half-filled with largely apathetic students just looking to get a degree. In other words, it has plenty of opportunities but few applicants, making it a perfect place to prove yourself.

When I ran for Vice President of the Associated Students of Seattle Pacific, I was disappointed that I did not have an opponent. I want more participation in student government, and, well, elections with options.

Also, it simply astounds me that a scholarship offer of over $9,000 found exactly zero applicants outside of myself.

In all seriousness, my goal as VP is to connect all the parts of the student body, from ASSP to The Falcon to KSPU to Residence Life, and so on. What good is a head, two arms, two legs and a torso if they are not attached to form a body?

Student involvement suffers from apathy — the fact that I was the only one to apply for the Vice President position shows this, as does the lack of staff writers on my usual Falcon section. But this apathy also worsens the lives of students — it removes the lightness of joy and excitement that comes from having a caring community.

A great many of us have no special care for the university, and I was once in that group. Although I grew up always wanting to attend the University of Washington, I applied to other schools, including SPU. When UW rejected me, I chose SPU simply because it was the closest university that had accepted me. On top of all that, there is hiring discrimination and downsizing. It made me shy away from being a Falcon.

But I’ve come to realize that if we shy away from being a Falcon just because of the failings of this school, we allow those failings to define what it means to be a Falcon.

For me, SPU was just a place to get a degree. Until it wasn’t.

As I said before: SPU is a place where you can prove yourself. I’ll give you an example involving this very publication. 

At UW or another big university, student papers are tough to get into, essentially locked to all but those with extensive prior journalism experience. At SPU, a friend of mine who happened to be the sports editor invited me to join his section. There was no application. That’s how I found out that anyone could join The Falcon.

Now, The Falcon led me to find a paid job writing Seattle soccer articles for an outlet outside of SPU. Simply put, that would not have happened had I gone somewhere else. But here, if you want to, you can do it no matter who you are.

Too many people view student involvement as something not “for them” — it’s for the overachievers, the National Honor Society kids and the people who are high on their own supply. I certainly felt this way. I was the kind of kid who had no desire to play the game, so to speak. My life in high school was about playing video games and eating junk food, not the rat race to find my way to elite higher education.

In college, I found the opportunity to do things just because I’m here. I’m grateful to be at this university. I’m grateful to those who asked me to check out student involvement with The Falcon, Area Council and now ASSP. With all of these things, I started off by dipping my toes in the water at the request of others—before discovering that the water was warm, so I might as well swim.

This is why I want people to be excited about this university.

If you’re here, this is your school, and you might as well make the most out of it. Take the opportunities in front of you. Interested in writing? Join The Falcon! Interested in event planning? Join Area Council or STORP! Interested in radio or music? Join KSPU! Interested in advocating for your fellow students? Join ASSP!

These opportunities are right in front of you. They’re not just fun distractions — they are resume-builders and can outright be stepping stones to employment in these fields in the future. The higher positions have scholarship money if you’re like most of us and enjoy a good chunk of dough.

You don’t have much to lose. If you dip your toes in and don’t like it, stepping out of the water is easy. If you dip your toes in and like it, you can swim. Low risk, high reward. And you’ll bring some school spirit with you and brighten up the day for yourself and others.

This is why I am proud to be a Falcon — because SPU is a place where people can go from nothing to something, where they can change course and yet land on both their feet. It’s a place for late bloomers. It’s a place that lets you prove yourself.

If you want to, you can do it.

So do it.