As an active student leader and volunteer on campus and throughout the community, I strive to make a difference in everything I do; this is how a lot of student leaders think. Everyone has to be willing to work together in order to make that difference happen.

 

At Black Hills State University, there are a lot of paths students have to take in order to accomplish a task, set up an event or put on a fundraiser. From budget limitations, communication difficulties and misunderstandings between each othera��it makes the process a lot more exhausting than it needs to be.

 

Students and staff are both very busy at their respective positions in the university system. Sometimes the stresses of everyday life carry over into how we communicate with each other’more times than not, ending inefficiently.

 

I think it would be beneficial for people to explain what is going ona��just let each other know the difficulties with the situation. I know that sounds like a clich, and it is, but it is easier that way.

 

We have to be a team; we are all on this campus together. When we don’t collaborate on ideas and actions, there is a barrier between people that gets built, especially when discussion is cut short by interfering situations. This results in short tempers and an even smaller success at reaching a solution to the original mission.

 

BHSU has been working on increasing participation on campus for a while, and we are finally starting to make a dent in that project. This effort would go a lot faster if we weren’t so separated as a campus.

 

The prices at BHSU are very high for most college students, including student leaders working with an organization’s awarded funds. I understand the support that needs to be shown to on campus facilities, but is there a way to offer better deals?

 

If students are able to bring well-done events on campus, more people will stick around and participate, especially on weekends. When things are unaffordable, hard to obtain and out of reach, I know I get discouraged; and more times than none, I give up on the idea all together.

 

Please understand that the university is not completely at fault here. Students are so distant from each other, it is sad. How often do you see a science major, an art major and a business major working on a project together? Who am I joking? How often do you see a journalism student, a telecommunication student and a theater major working together? Personally, I have only seen it a few times and it is forced interaction.

 

We could make this BH campus so much better, students! When one organization needs help, why can’t we reach out and be the volunteers we claim to be as student leaders? We are working towards the same thing, why not combine our talents and make an event students get excited about and want to be involved in?

 

We have to act as a team’students, faculty and staff alike. Talk to each other and be in the know about what is happening on campus. Take the initiative to participate in projects going on around BHSU, even if it isn’t your “typical” crowd. This university is a beautiful, growing campus’and it could be even better if we all worked together.