Jacob Rice

Jay Waagmeester, academics editor.

You most likely did not pick the high school you attended, and yet, you chose to attend Iowa State. 

The reasoning for choosing Iowa State varies from person to person. For some, it was a specific academic program; for some, it was the best opportunity to save a few bucks at a state school; and for others, the high acceptance rate enabled you to make your dreams of a college education come true. 

For me, it was my experiences on campus before enrolling. While visiting friends attending Iowa State when I was a high school student and when I took my official visit, the people I ran into on campus were, without exception, not just nice, but made one thing clear: How many possibilities there were for me to make a positive out of my time on campus.

As I mark nearly four years since I started classes, I can say my experience has been no different from my pre-college encounters on campus. 

The most essential piece keeping our community running the way it does is the mentors and those with experience that make it possible. 

I would not have pursued any of the paths I did if it were not for the people who told me I was capable or challenged me to reach beyond my limits or those who introduced me to an opportunity I didn’t previously know was available. 

For as many times as someone points you in the right direction (literally or figuratively), do the same for another community member. 

Whether I was helping or being helped, serving as a mentor or just a smiling face along someone’s journey can make all the difference in who becomes what. 

I can only hope that during my time as a campus tour guide, Student Government senator or editor at the Iowa State Daily, I was able to push at least one student to shoot beyond what they believed they could do or introduce them to an opportunity they did not know about.

Of the organizations I have been part of, whether it was working on a Student Government project, writing a story for the Daily or showing a potential student the opportunities in store for them on a campus tour, I have been driven by understanding how essential support and enthusiasm are to making a college campus so formative for students. And I thank those who mentored me for being so generous (and patient) with their time and talents. 

I challenge you, whether you’re a freshman or faculty, to go out of your way to serve as a mentor to someone or to reach out to someone you want mentorship from. Helping or being helped makes us both better. Show the ropes you wish you were shown, and when you find that mentor or mentee, latch on. 

Pay back the resources you have taken from. If there is a project you are passionate about, an initiative you want to tackle or a problem standing in the way of your college experience, reach out to the relevant resources, whether that be Student Government, the Senior Vice President for Student Affairs, the Iowa State Police Department, the Ames City Council, your professor or the person who sits next to you in class. 

Contribute to the community that formed you.

Ensure the high schoolers visiting campus that there are endless possibilities to make their time at Iowa State a positive one.