Many students see college as a time to form connections and find a community of people they click with, but depending on what type of college you attend, it might take more work.
Community college environments can feel desolate and confusing when you first start off.
Since students in community college all study at different paces, it’s hard to form a connection with people your age because you don’t know if the people you came in with will be the people you graduate with.
The vast age difference between students on campus creates a disconnect between the older and younger students.
Some students feel community college can be a lonely experience, where people are just trying to get in and out as soon as possible.
Four year institutions are tight-knit in nature with most of the students living, eating, and doing all their extracurriculars on campus.
Community colleges are different. With the only option being to commute, students spend much of their time commuting to and from campus and have little downtime.
School clubs, organizations, events and classes are typically the best places to meet new people, but for commuters, staying an extra hour for a club meeting or school event feels like an unnecessary hassle.
Long Beach City College specifically falls short in maintaining these clubs. Although there are a wide variety of club options with so much potential, they don’t do a great job advertising their presence, with most students unaware these clubs even exist.
Even when students are interested in joining these clubs, the website people are directed to for more information about these organizations–the Viking engagement portal–isn’t up to date.
In turn, students are unable to contact current members to find out more information.
Most students in community college are part-time or full-time workers, so when they aren’t on campus, they are working and don’t have much downtime to meet new people.
Students can feel self-conscious when going to these school events or joining clubs as they think it’s uncool or feel nervous going alone.
LBCC should be an easier place to harbor friendships. It already has the potential with smaller and more intimate classes, the weekly school events and the ample variety of clubs on campus.
The potential is sadly wasted, due to students’ busy schedules and their hesitation toward being more involved with the school on top of the lack of promotion for these events.