This past Friday, I met with Tom Beebe, the Vice President of Facilities, to discuss the progress made regarding all of the various projects on campus. He’s a very busy guy, so when I happened to see him walking through the Student Activities Office, prior to our appointment, I made sure to thank him for taking the time out of his schedule to talk to me. To this he replied that he was happy to talk to me in person, as opposed to having me get information from someone else or from the email he sent out with a progress report, even if it meant moving something in his schedule around. Although I knew that I could expect that attitude from Tom, hearing it from him made it stand out even more.

Everyone has a different personality, and I accept that; however, I consider a simple “hello” or “how are you doing?” to be something that everyone deserves the courtesy of receiving. I’m not going to pretend that I’m perfect and never avoid looking towards someone, because I think it will be awkward when our eyes meet. But when it comes to the faculty and staff, I think it really shows a level of caring when they offer the same courtesy to students as they do to their peers.

I feel like a bit of a hypocrite saying this. Even in my interview for the editor-in-chief position, I admitted that I thought my greatest weakness was my occasional introverted nature, despite my best efforts to be more outgoing. Regardless, it won’t hurt anyone to look someone in the eyes and say hi. For all anyone knows, that simple gesture could make someone’s day.

By no means is Tom Beebe the only outgoing person I’ve met on this campus; there are too many to count. But for the few that let their shyness or whatever get the best of them, try to meet a student and introduce yourself.

I’d like to close by saying that I look forward to producing a great paper this year, and I hope that everyone enjoys picking up a copy of The Charger Bulletin and reading it every week. To any new students reading this, welcome to UNH, I hope you enjoy it here as much as I do, and if I had to pick one piece of advice to give you, it would be to get involved on campus. If you don’t, you’re missing out on so much.