TCU is an active campus with its close-knit student body, multiple organizations and top-notch facilities. But I wonder how many students are active when it comes to using on-campus facilities.
I hadn’t realized, until now, that a number of on-campus facilities go unnoticed by students. It struck me when a senior in my jogging class said she had never gone to the University Recreation Center.
As a sorority intramural chair, I couldn’t comprehend that someone who has spent four years at TCU had never used the Rec Center. Apparently, this senior hadn’t, and she was astounded when I led her upstairs to the treadmills; she had every right to be impressed.
Campus facilities like the Rec Center at TCU are amazing but often go unused. For example, the TCU Center for Writing allows students to receive free tutoring in writing from a peer or professional. Not every campus has a writing center like TCU, yet so many students know little or nothing about it.
Career Services is another example of a helpful facility on campus that is underused. The Career Services office has an extensive career library – which comes in handy for people with non-specific majors like writing – that is readily accessible to students during regular office hours. The facility also provides extensive interview practices, such as mock phone interviews and face-to-face interviews. The interviews are taped for students to watch later and see how factors such as their body language affects their interview process. Not to forget, the Career Services also maintains a job search Web site specifically for TCU students.
Think about the places you’ve heard about on campus but dismissed the idea of visiting because you thought were too busy to check them out. How many of you have visited the Office of Religion and Spiritual Life, Student Development Services or the Department of Campus Life? It’s really a shame. There are so many facilities at TCU that we fail to acknowledge and take advantage of. It offers us more help and guidance than we are aware. With hope, the new student union will make more students aware of the facilities that TCU provides. I recommend checking out the places on campus that you haven’t heard of.
Kelli Trapnell is a sophomore writing major from Houston.
