PARENA, AERON JADE S.2014-73164ENG 2 A-3RPOSITION PAPERMARCH 6, 2015

Frosh on Fire: Student Organizations For All

Every college student needs guidance; reliable references for homeworks, procedures for certain processes like registration, filling of leave of absence and dropping of courses, and in very important requirements such as thesis, practicums and dissertations. But then, what can the freshmen say about these things? Each could sound new to them. And as they enter the university, they must be equipped with independence, which makes them stand on their own, making them real college students. This though does not mean that being independent needs not to be guided. In fact, one of the vital foundations of being independent is guidance.There are various organizations in the university that could help and guide first year students adjust and cope with the new environment and such things that they might encounter upon entry in the university. However, the problem is that they only allow non-freshman students to apply for membership, in which the UPLB Office of Student Affairs (OSA) is responsible of. It is clearly stated in their policies and guidelines that an organization must pledge against recruitment of freshmen. Well, since they are new to the university, freshman students should be allowed to join organizations as it will significantly widen their social circle, to guide them, to inform them of the university policies and to provide them a cradle from a welcoming family; whereas, restricting them from these is against their free will and presents unequal rights between these students and the upperclassmen. Flyers and posters manage to fill up every announcement boards in the campus in the first few weeks of every semester. Orientation! 7 pm at McDonalds! Free Dinner! Of course, these things tickle the curious minds of the new students. The first few weeks on campus are extremely critical for them. It is because during this time that they have to make critical decisions that will have an effect on the rest of their lives. They need friends and support. And during the orientations, they meet new people from the organizations, manage to talk and befriend with them. It is where the freshmen could actually expand their social circles. They could widen this more if only they could officially join the organization. But the fact that they cannot be recruited makes these things unreal. These organizations are willing to extend their help to these new students which may be unaware of the system and cultures in the university that is why they deserve to be open for new students.Students of UP Los Baos also have to be knowledgeable of the University policies especially in registration, attendance, dropping and substitution of courses, leave of absence, honorific scholarship, scholastic delinquency, maximum residency and etc. However, not all can have the opportunity to be aware that they have to be. In UP, no one will willingly tell you all the procedures you have to know to ace each complex process you are required to undergo. You need to have the guts to discover and ask each and every one that you could ask. But, not all students in UP are deserving for a nicely asked question for there are some that could make fun out of you being new in the university. Being part of a student organization on the other hand, is a completely different thing. It is their pleasure to help and assist the freshmen with their concerns in any possible way that they can, since; of course, all of them were once at the position of being freshmen at one point of their college lives. Not only in this aspect can the student organizations help though. Everyone starts college with a clean academic slate, along with a lot of independence and a myriad of critical decisions as they begin the transition into adulthood. The decisions that they make and the actions they take during the first year of college will have a major impact on the rest of their college experience. Therefore, they need brothers and sisters for them to be rightfully guided. They need a family that could provide them a cradle and a helping hand for them to survive each obstacle that they could eventually encounter during their whole college experience. As a matter of fact, having a family means being strong and brave since you have your brothers and sisters to protect you in the best way that they can. In college, the definition of happiness is also undeniably different when you have your brods and sisses. The bonding that you could actually share is something that you could treasure for the rest of your lives, as you graduate, get a stable job, have a beautiful family and as you grow as a good man/woman. In the concept of joining student organizations, many would actually say that it is just a waste of time, that the application will just drag you down because it will just eat up your energy and get you in a position with less or no time at all for your academic endeavors. Well, it is also fair to say that the application does not lasts forever. It could just last for a week or so. And one of the essential parts of joining an organization is being able to experience an application process that you could never experience in your whole life. It is how the members of the organizations could know you and how you could now each one of them. Think of what you can have and what you can be the moment you survives the application process. Another reason that makes students afraid of joining organizations is the knowledge of possible occurrences of hazing. Numerous deaths since year 2000 have been reported and these did not actually lead to justice for the victims families (Diola, 2014). Such deaths that were reported in various news platforms all over the Philippines raised fear among students in joining student organizations. However, students need not to fret since the Office of Student Affairs managed to provide assurance and security that in UPLB, hazing in the application processes are not being done as pledged by the UPLB OSAs recognized organizations ranging from academic organizations like Philobioscientia, to varsitarian organizations such as UP Kabataang Alyansa ng may Dugong Taga Hilagang Kamarines (UP KAADHIKA), and as stated in the policies and guidelines of OSA. Indeed, there are various points that show that the UPLB Office of Student Affairs should certainly open the membership applications for the different organizations for freshmen. These students also deserve guidance, support from real friends and love from a family. It is their right and preventing them from doing so definitely presents unfairness from the upperclassmen. In addition, joining an organization is something that they should have been deciding for themselves. Maybe OSA should have made it as a recommendation rather than a policy that actually sounds bias and discriminating. Freshmen, as this term suggests, are men that are fresh and new that deserve caress and rightful welcoming. With right mix of social life, good grades and enough sleep, they will surely survive college. Whatever they do, they just need to be sure to be their selves and try to enjoy their college experiences as much as possible. They shall expect some stress and homesickness, but also, they should not let these issues wear them down.

References:Diola, C. (2010, July 10). The Philippine Star. Hazing deaths in the Philippines: A recent history. Retrieved March 5, 2015 from http://www.philstar.com/news-feature/2014/07/10/1344288/hazing-deaths-philippines-recent-history.University of the Philippines Los Baos: College of Engineering and Agro- industrial Technology (2011). Academic Policies and Guidelines. Retrieved March 5, 2015 from http://ceat.uplb.edu.ph/index.php/policies-and-procedures.University of the Philippines Los Baos Office of Student Affairs. List of Recognized Organizations Second Semester, AY 2014-2015. Retrieved March 5, 2015 from https://www.uplbosa.org/orgs. University of the Philippines Los Baos Office of Student Affairs. Organization Recognition Guidelines. Retrieved March 5, 2015 from https://www.uplbosa.org/page-soadguidelines.

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