When I moved into Syme Hall at the beginning of last year, the university provided me with a care package. Finding that care package again during move-out, after one of the most emotionally draining school years of my life, I was reminded of something: how community always shows up for us in times of hardship. It’s our means of looking out for each other when we don’t have the social support we need.

It goes without saying that everyone at NC State is a member of a community: the Wolfpack community. But that’s a community of over 37,000 people. We could divide that by individual colleges, but even comparatively smaller communities like the College of Humanities and Social Sciences totals around 4,500 people. The sheer size of our extensive community can be especially intimidating to our first-year students. 

While wide communities can be great, the strength of having so many people on campus comes from being a part of multiple groups.

Clubs are a great example of this, but they usually only meet about once a week. Moreover, joining too many may take away from time needed to work or study. The advantage of being a part of one large community is that eventually, you’ll find yourself a part of multiple smaller groups that can help you fulfill different needs.

Gallup and Penn State both report that social offerings, openness, aesthetics, education and basic services are the most important factors in building good communities. This means that good communities hold events, are open and accessible to new members, have places people want to go, provide quality instruction and provide for their members.

Clubs, other interest groups and the various campus events like Packapalooza, Wolfstock and Wolfpack Welcome Week provide social offerings and openness.

Obviously, being on a college campus lends itself to the education element, but support is essential when students are struggling. Creating a class GroupMe, joining existing study groups or creating your own are all great ways to not only keep up in a difficult class but make friends as well. 

While we may have less control in the domains of aesthetics and basic services, there is still opportunity. 

In the realm of aesthetics, there may not be many places you enjoy going to on campus, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make the places you frequent more enjoyable. Downtown Raleigh, Hillsborough Street, North Hills, Pullen Park and various museums are all fun to visit, but it may be just as impactful to become friends with the people who ride the Wolfline at the same time as you. If you notice the same people at dining or lecture halls, those are not only people you could be friends with, but people who you can exchange information with if a service is down or the buses aren’t running.

We can also help each other in regards to basic services, especially when college can be a financially draining experience. If you share a class with a friend and you both need a physical textbook, you might want to consider splitting the cost and sharing it. If you have excess dining dollars and know someone who is food insecure on campus, you could get them a meal. If you or someone you know is food insecure, please look into Feed The Pack. 

But all of this only works if it’s genuine. Community is not a means to an end — it is both. It is strongest when we remove our biases against others and provide and accept help indiscriminately.

It means checking in with friends, even when it’s uncomfortable. It means practicing self-awareness and knowing when you need to ask for help.

Community is not always a well-lit stock photo of beautiful smiling faces; sometimes it’s sharing a hardship and navigating through it together. And as uncomfortable as all of this may seem at times, it’s important to remember people rarely say no to friendship.

We live in difficult times amid economic uncertainty and a nationwide mental health crisis on top of the already-stressful experience of being a college student. Still, I have faith that if we act in compassion, exercise making connections and practice reaching out that things can improve, even if slightly. Making life just a little bit easier for someone and showing them that you care can mean a world of difference.