Imagine, for a moment, a project from my fifth-grade science class: the Terrarium-Aquarium. Two pop bottles taped together, each containing a unique environment with its own lifeforms, became the most anticipated activity of the year. From its construction to the introduction of the terrarium’s snails and the aquarium’s minnows, each student worked hard to sustain their habitat until the projects were completed and ready to be tucked away on a shelf for their extended survival. But soon after they had been left alone, plants wilted, snails slowed, and minnows went belly-up; my paradise in a bottle turned to ruin in a matter of days. What happened during the time I wasn’t watching?
For many Gordon students, imagining our campus without people swarming all over it seems impossible. In my own experience, the walk from Lane to Jenks is a minefield of social interaction; I can’t take ten steps without running into someone I know and striking up a conversation. The word “minefield” may seem like a misnomer. How could an environment where socializing is so easy be a bad thing? If you’re an introvert, you’ve probably already got loads of answers ready, but for those of us who can’t get enough of the hubbub, there is something to consider here: During our time at Gordon, we will experience highs and lows, as relationships begin, evolve, and sometimes end, but at the end of the day, we will always have the tight-knit social bubble of campus to fall back on. So…what happens when we leave?
Graduation is the end goal for most, hopefully all, who pursue a college degree. However, often, whatever comes after graduation remains unknown, especially regarding one’s community. Post-college, we will eventually find ourselves facing a new social minefield, one that is full of unfamiliar faces and relationships. Like my failed terrarium-aquarium in 5th grade, social opportunity seems boundless within our manufactured campus bubble environment, but it can become a rarity once we are no longer experiencing the meticulously planned campus events, intentional living communities fostered by Residence Life, and Christian fellowship ingrained in the very formation of this institution. Should I have been surprised when all the snails and fish I shoved in a two-liter pop bottle weren’t doing too well after being left alone for a week? Probably not, but I was ten years old. Though, I don’t think that experiment was hopeless…and I don’t think our social lives post-college are either.
To increase the chances of long-term social survival, we must prepare ourselves aptly now, still in the community of our campus. If I were to recreate my terrarium-aquarium experiment today, I would work to establish a strong foundation for my habitat, one much stronger than two pop bottles taped together. To establish our social foundations now, I believe we must spend time reflecting on the relationships on campus we hold closest to us. Stop and think, how did you meet your best friends at Gordon? What do you value most in your relationships? What do you want to build your future relationships with? Taking time to reflect on the things with which we have built our own personal pop bottle paradises is the first step in preparing for social life after college.
In assessing our social longevity, we must also come to terms with the fact that Gordon’s campus exists somewhat as a social utopia and cultural bubble that filters out many challenges we face in the outside world. One reason why forming new relationships in our future workplaces and habitats seems so daunting is because it’s hard to fathom what an unfiltered social life and community might look like. For many of us, maintaining a supportive Christian community after college feels especially threatening; the same values and practices that lie at the core of life at Gordon can seldom be guaranteed in most other environments, so how can we take steps now towards ensuring that we will stay connected to Christ through our communities? This is an active process, and it begins with our current communities on campus. To keep our snails slugging and fish swimming towards the Light, we must be decisive in the actions that will build our future careers and social lives, like understanding what builds a strong church community, developing prayerful habits and spiritually enriching practices, and seeking out others who bring us closer to God. Learning how to navigate these challenges now will better equip us for a life beyond Gordon’s social-spiritual bubble.
At the end of the day, or four years, or whatever metric of time we are observing presently, life will throw curveballs, snails, and fish at us, and we will find ourselves faced with unforeseen obstacles we must overcome. Maybe you’re studying biology at Gordon, and ten years from now, the beaver population in Massachusetts will outnumber humans, and you’ll have to navigate a beaver uprising. Maybe you’re studying sports management and in the future, basketball and football will merge to become footsketball, and you’ll be at the forefront of the unification of the Miami Heated Dolphins. Or maybe, this is your first day of work at a new job post-college, and you’re in over your head, stumbling over your words, and wondering if you’re in the right place. Whatever you study in your time at Gordon, there are certain challenges in life the classroom just can’t prepare you for. How do you plan to overcome them when you are no longer confined to the pop bottle paradise we find on campus?
Leave a Reply