column
Jack Troy
CAST A WIDE NET TO FIND THE ACTIVITIES AND CLUBS YOU LOVE
Opinions Editor When I arrived on campus last fall, I didn’t have a nine month plan that culminated in becoming an editor at The Pitt News. In fact, I didn’t arrive with any sort of plan outside of my class schedule. I could certainly rattle off some interests. After realizing I was failing to leave much of a legacy behind, I founded an environmental club at my high school. Between my absolute lack of leadership experience and gardening season coinciding with the emergence of COVID-19 in the United States, we didn’t accomplish all too much. I picked up tennis that same spring and got to enjoy a full two weeks on my school’s team. Once again, the pandemic cut that short. And of course, not a day went by where I didn’t think about politics, usually through the lens of Sen. Bernie
Sanders’ presidential campaign. Trying to translate these interests into participation in clubs and organizations at Pitt was a demoralizing process. Thanks to a serious case of small town protagonist syndrome, one of the first decisions I made as a college student was to run for Sutherland Hall Council President. I positioned myself as some sort of environment-first, Jay Inslee-like figure in a three-way race and — just like the Washington governor’s bid for the presidency — it ended in disappointment. I guess I didn’t do enough schmoozing in GroupMe, or maybe composting wasn’t the hot button issue I made it out to be. With one avenue to something resembling political power closed off, I turned to Student Government Board. In a marginally less audacious move, I applied for First-Year See Troy on page 46
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pittnews.com
June, 25, 2021
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