It is a commitment to “get involved” on campus but that doesn’t deter most students. In my observations, I’ve noticed that most people who are involved in one campus activity are involved in two, three or more.

I share the fairly common idea that getting involved is a great thing.

So don’t let this come off cynically but I think it’s impossible to give 100 percent effort in every activity that you’re involved in, if you are involved with more than one. Somehow, some way, you will always prefer one to the others.

You will unintentionally create an involvement hierarchy.

You will have conflicts between commitments and you will have to choose one over another; there’s no way around it.

For me, those conflicting commitments are The Collegian and swimming; however, I know where my preferences fall and what motivates them.

Unlike some campus activities that might not require a great deal of time spent actually meeting with others, swimming occupies as much of my time as a part-time job would. Between morning and afternoon practices and the time needed to recover from (read, “nap after”) those practices, it’s difficult or impossible to allow another involvement to take priority over swimming.

Obviously, swimming takes priority for me over The Collegian.

Is that dangerous? Yes, it definitely is. I don’t think that it makes me any lesser of a member, though.

When you are involved in more than one thing and those things conflict, it’s easy to give up on one and focus solely on the other.

When I first came to AU, I started doing exactly that. I came to the first Collegian meeting my freshman year having my mind set on minimal writing. I worked on our newspaper in high school and knew how much time writing required.

At that time, I was only swimming for about 15 hours a week as well, compared to the 20 that I spend in the pool each week in college. Even then, working on the newspaper still was a major time commitment on a weekly basis.

I simply didn’t think I would have enough time to participate fully in both activities in college.

I do, though.

I can’t choose both The Collegian and swimming all the time; there are time conflicts that need to be resolved. In general, I’ve set a precedent that swimming comes before The Collegian and I couldn’t imagine doing it another way.

I see some people who try to give each of their conflicting activities a chance to be the “favorite,” rotating which event trumps which.

I can’t choose The Collegian one week and swimming the next, though. That would be a mistake.

If I would get into a habit of doing that, I would become unsure of my place on the team and in the newsroom. If you cannot decide on a single-most loyalty, you aren’t being loyal to anything at all.

Even worse, teammates or editors and reporters would judge me because they wouldn’t know my place.

You just have to find your place and stick to it. Don’t be afraid to play favorites; the people in your favorite organization will recognize and respect that you care more about that particular activity than the other ones.

Even though The Collegian takes a back seat to swimming in conflicting times, I still hold my own.

As long as you establish that position, getting involved in multiple activities isn’t dangerous at all; however, if you don’t set those boundaries, you risk consequences in all of those endeavors.