I am the vice president of a secret society. I am the beat boxer and co-founder of an a capella group. I am an intramural soccer champion.
All of these statements are true … kind of.
Somehow, in the past three and half years I have been at Cornell, I completely missed the extracurricular boat. Freshman year I was pretty shy and scared of everything and everyone at Cornell, partially because I didn’t want to be at college at all. Lame, I know. But I went to Club Fest and signed up for a few things. I even went to a boxing club meeting by myself. It all fizzled out eventually, and I’m not exactly sure why. Maybe I made one too many Rocky jokes, who knows? I was too scared to try out for the women’s club soccer team because I had heard they were basically flow-over from varsity and way too good for me. I wanted to try out for women’s rugby, but I was too scared of getting killed. I didn’t understand the intramurals website until sophomore year. I can’t sing well (which doesn’t mean I don’t sing, so I apologize to my housemates who have to listen to me in the shower), I don’t do improv and I loathe quarter-carding, thus making me virtually unable to join a club.
Despite my lack of skills, I have always wanted to be a part of certain groups on campus. Quill and Dagger was number one. But alas, I didn’t start writing for the Sun until right now (publish this piece!) so I had no shot at becoming editor in chief. I am not the captain of a varsity sport and I am not the executive director of the biggest club on campus. But I really like secrets! And I know where your headquarters is! Isn’t that enough for you, Quill and Dagger? I will accept a late tapping.
In the meantime, while I wait for my belated invitation to Q&D, I am in my own secret society. My friend decided that she was fed up with waiting for her invite and took matters into her own hands. I was the first tapped member of this group and have taken the prestigious role of V.P. In order to protect our members, I will refrain from revealing the name of our secret society, but I will say both the name and symbol are pretty badass. Our philosophy is purely social/based on bad decision-making, so if you feel you qualify, let me know and we will consider you for membership.
A capella is another interest of mine. I love singing and dancing around, I just happen to suck at both. I also pretend to beat box. I have always resented the fact that I didn’t have a stage mom who forced me into this stuff. This same friend and I decided that enough was enough and that we were going to start our own, infinitely cooler, a capella group. We are known as the Castaways; you may have heard of us since we throw killer after parties. Have we had an actual concert? No, but that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate a job well done. Hey, you might ask, when’s the next Castaways concert? Don’t worry about it, the after party’s at my place.
Now we come to athletics. I have played soccer forever but have only improved ever so slightly since the age of five. I dabbled in every sport available to me when I was younger, but only soccer stuck. Why my parents didn’t force me to play hockey or become a tennis ace I will never know. I could have been great, but they were so concerned with letting me make my own choices that they screwed everything up. Way to drop the ball on that one, guys. I have led my intramural co-rec soccer team the past couple years to the playoffs, but we fall short every time. All I want from my tenure at Cornell, besides my diploma, is an intramurals champion t-shirt. Is that so much to ask? I thought this was the year, but my team did not make it to the finals unfortunately. So instead of taking it in stride and waiting for indoor soccer to roll around, I attached myself to our friends’ men’s soccer team and named myself head of the Superfans. There were two of us, but we came to every game … with signs. The team actually won and let me snag a t-shirt. I am even featured in the team picture on the intramurals website, so check it out (if you can figure out the site)
So even though I am not really active on campus, I have found ways to feel involved at Cornell. Seniors, if you are like me, call me up and we’ll start our own fake fraternity (though we may or may not have already done that). Freshmen, if you want to be tapped for a secret society, I hope you are already gunning for that e-board position. If not, it’s never to late to try something new, or to pretend to.
Becca Goldklang is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She may be contacted at [email protected]. Guest Room appears periodically this semester.
Original Author: Becca Goldklang