It’s a new year at UT, and a new year brings new students, new professors, new football teams, and most importantly, new columnists at The Daily Beacon. That’s right, this is my first major writing experience in my life, and I hope it’s as exciting and adventurous for you as it is for me.

First off, I’d like to tell you all a little about myself and what this column will address throughout the year. My name is Hunter Tipton, and I’m a senior majoring in Microbiology. I am from Maryville, Tennessee, and am a third generation University of Tennessee student. When offered a columnist position, I was told that I could address any number of things. For this reason I will write about a wide variety of my own interests, including pop-culture, politics, sports, school issues, and anything else in between. On occasion I will push the envelope on sensitive issues, not for the shock value or because of an inherent sense of self-righteousness, but because some sensitive issues simply need to be brought into the public eye. I am always receptive to your emails as feedback, and I appreciate any thoughtful criticism.

Now that the boring part is out of the way, I want to jump into a little advice for new freshmen on campus. College is a different experience from any that you have previously had. Many of you come from schools where you were used to taking the hardest classes or making the best grades. Many of you had tight-knit friend groups that may have been split up by different college decisions. Some of you may have even been star athletes who decided to forgo college athletics. Learning how to deal with these changes is an important part of the college experience.

My first bit of advice for the more studious students is to not load up your first semester schedule. I know some of you have already tried to make a schedule somewhat similar to ones you had in high school, including honors Math, Science, and English. Please, for the sake of yourself and those around you, do not do this. An honors class is college is different from an honors class in high school. Simply put, they can be extremely, and sometimes unnecessarily, difficult. Your first semester should be spent integrating into college life, not studying. I know some of you will read this and say “He doesn’t know me! I’m a genius, I can do it!” I know this, because inevitably someone always says this to me (and I did this myself). I’m sure some of you are incredibly smart. I’m not criticizing your intelligence. You can take four honors classes your first semester and still make As. I’m just saying that you won’t enjoy it, and that you don’t have to prove yourself to anyone.

For those of you who won’t be spending your first year in the library, I highly encourage you to get out and find campus organizations or activities to immerse yourselves in. This is a quick way to meet new people who share your same interests. As a freshman, I got involved in my hall association executive board to help plan fun events in Reese Hall. Two years later I became the President of the United Residence Halls Council, the umbrella organization over every residence hall association and the second largest campus organization after SGA. I have met some of my closest friends, including my current roommate, simply by being involved. Whether its community service, sports, hobbies, cultures, or drinking (fraternities), I’m sure you can find people with common interest to get to know. It only takes a little effort, and by the end of your senior year you will be happy that you did.

At this point, I would like to introduce an interesting concept I will be implementing in my columns for this year. I deem it “Shameless Plug of the Week.” The SPOTW will highlight something I find personally interesting as a recommendation to my readers that somewhat relates to the subject of the column. Hopefully some of you will try these out and give me some feedback on them. And now, we dive into the inaugural…

Shameless Plug of the Week: Seriously, for those of you who want to get involved on campus early, try out URHC. We are a campus organization that seeks to improve the on campus living experience at UT, and we welcome all students. To get more info, feel free to email me or talk to your RA, Hall Director, or Assistant Hall Director.

— Hunter Tipton is a senior in microbiology. He can be reached at [email protected].