Finding Community at Mason

1 – Academics

In high school, you have honor societies, which tend to be, at least in my high school, the only academic clubs. And while we have honor societies here at Mason, they’re definitely not the only academic organizations to exist at our university.

Like the Friends of the Observatory organization, who you’ll sometimes see standing in the middle of Wilkins Plaza with their huge telescope pointed towards the sun. A lot of these organizations relate back to a specific aspect of an overall academic program, or even help students get an early start to what they plan to do in their graduate programs, be it research, or going to law/medical school.

These organizations can serve as a way for students to find opportunities that relate specifically to what they want to study or focus on, or just help them build a community with those who are on the same path as them, with the same interests.

2 – Volunteer

Now say you want to find opportunities that may not be so oriented towards your academic study, or even what you want to do in the future, but something that will really look good on your resume. There are tons of organizations that are marketed towards volunteering out in the general Fairfax area to build up not only leadership qualities within those members, but also be able to put that membership on your resume.

Honor societies are one such organization that have a volunteer aspect in the most traditional sense. But there are other way to volunteer as well. Mason Ambassadors are an example of that. What we do, showing students around the campus, learning the in and outs of facts and information that these families need to know when selecting a college, we do that without pay. But, in return, we build up public speaking skills, leadership skills, and come to form a pretty great community made up of students with diverse interests and backgrounds.

3 – Special Interest

Okay, now what about making friends/building a community in a more tradition way? By finding people that like the same things you do. Very good news for that, most RSOs (Registered Student Organizations) technically fit under this umbrella term. The Fairfax campus alone has over 500 organization associated back to it, there’s a community for everything, be it looking for a dance group that practices a specific style of dance, a club for a game that you have played since you were a kid, or even just a group to talk to about your favorite book. If you want to be a part of it, good bet is that Mason has it.

Let’s say you look for this organization though and you don’t think it exists, make it then. Really easy, really simple, you need seven people (eight including yourself) and a faculty member willing to be your advisor. That makes you eligible to go forward with this organization and you get to make a space that others want to be a part of.

4 – Cultural, Greek Life, Office/Department based Orgs

There are way too many types of organizations to cover them all in this article, but these were too important to go without be mentioned.

Finding spaces with those who are from a similar cultural background can be extremely hard because of differences in interest, experiences, but these different cultural organizations Mason has curates to that need that the students have to connect with people similar to them. All of these different Student Unions and Student Associations can be specific to a country (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Caribbean, etc.), a religious group, or an overall group of people. And the best thing about these organizations too is you don’t have to identify as part of these cultural backgrounds, if you’re interested then join!

Like every other university to exist, we of course of Greek Life, and it’s pretty much needs no explanation or introduction as to how it works. Something I will mention about it though is there are specific fraternities/sororities that may emphasize or focus on specific things in their groups. Some sororities may be made to focus on a specific culture, cultivating that communities for those individuals, or it may focus on a specific academic like Business majors.

Office and department based organizations are a little different, mostly that they work hand-in-hand with a specific part of the mason community. Like Mason Ambassadors, with our tours helping with the admission process of “advertising,” we are a part of the Admissions office. Some honor societies will work directly out of the department that they focus on specifically (i.e. the English honor society being a part of the English Department). If you want to work for a specific office, sometimes joining the organization that works out of it will give you an idea of what you’ll be doing and be a great way to meet the people you’d be working with and for.