大象传媒

Do you remember that old saying, 鈥淪how me your /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/friends and I鈥檒l tell you who you really are''? In a small environment, like a class, or a little larger, like your dorm or the Wilkes Honors College, there are many individuals with diverse backgrounds and identities which cause people o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f similar interests to gravitate towards one another and /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/form groups. It is easy to scan the Dining Hall and identi/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/fy small groups o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f people sitting at a table. You may see the athletic students chatting about their next Intramural game or the studious kids worrying about when their next assignment is due. Ideally, each individual contributes to the holistic identity o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f their /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/friend group and plays an important role.

However, when constantly surrounded by the same group o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f people, you may start to lose your sense o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f individuality, as well as your own desires and interests, i/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f you work too hard to be accommodating. For example, i/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f your /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/friends are thinking o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f getting pizza and you are the only one in the /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/friend group who pre/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/fers Pizza Hut, you may acquiesce and agree to go to Papa John鈥檚 with the rest. This is the concept o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f group in/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/fluence- where the majority can alter an individual鈥檚 behavior to con/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/form to a uni/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/form consensus. It is important to be care/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/ful and aware o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f such possibilities when making decisions as a group.

Fortunately /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/for me, the Honors College seems to have naturally developed a trend where students identi/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/fy with multiple /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/friend groups. This happens by either individually hopping around or when already existing groups merge together. It prevents students /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/from being over-in/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/fluenced by one group source, which is why I wouldn鈥檛 necessarily call our campus 鈥渃liquey鈥�. Let's go back to that group o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f athletic students. They might be sitting with each other that day, but the next day they may be sitting with the studious group. I /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/find this particularly com/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/forting since I personally haven't ever really created a solid /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/friend group. I mostly stick around one or two people as I don鈥檛 really gain energy /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/from being in a crowd. I believe this group /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/fluidity adds to the approachable ambience the campus has generated. There is not much 鈥�/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/freshman /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/fear鈥� o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f trying to quickly /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/find your way into a circle and settle in. When interacting with diverse groups, it allows us to be exposed to di/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/ferent people and perspectives which prevents us /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/from being completely altered by one group's in/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/fluence. It is rather healthy that the Honors College naturally has everyone interacting with each other in the tight-knit community, helping to recycle old judgements and introducing new ones.

I/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f you see yoursel/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f making decisions in a group that you normally wouldn't make alone, then it is important to become sel/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f-aware or reconsider i/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f you identi/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/fy with those members鈥� behaviors and values. Despite some o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f the /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/fallouts I've had throughout college, I鈥檝e managed to select the /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/few /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/friends that I /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/feel I am most similar with holistically. I know that even i/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f I'm aware o/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/f it or not, I will most likely be group-in/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/fluenced by them. To get straight to the point, the people who have the most in/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/fluence on you are the ones that are the closest to you, hence having some control over your decisionsSelect those /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/friends care/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/fully and re/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/flect on those choices /thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/enemiescloser/from time to time. So, don鈥檛 stick too much to the clique!