It’s so hard to believe the semester is already half over. I feel like I just lit my candle and walked through the front gates. It seems like the majority of freshman are settled into routines to get all their work done.

But one thing freshman this year just cannot seem to get used to is Soundings.

It seems this semester has brought more complaints about attending Soundings events and difficulties answering Soundings questions. Students not only don’t want to go to six Soundings events a semester, but they can’t seem to understand the process of answering a Soundings question.

The college uses Soundings as a way to increase cultural understanding and give students an alternative and more fun way of earning a credit. I don’t think it’s an attempt to stress us out by giving us one more thing to do, although it may seem it sometimes.

I had the opportunity to see many different plays and musical acts that I probably wouldn’t have if it weren’t for Soundings because of cost. I will say, though, that some events are clearly more enjoyable than others.

Many first-year students, or even upperclassmen who are still in first-year Soundings, complain that it is difficult to attend six events each semester. They say Soundings events are uninteresting to them, which is why they think that it shouldn’t be required.

NEWS FLASH! Life is an imperfect journey, and in this journey, there are going to be countless things that we have to do that we don’t want to. Whether you tolerate it or utterly detest it, you still have to do it if you want to graduate. There is no use in complaining about something that you have no control over.

How bad can it be to spend an hour and a half listening to someone talk? Even if you don’t care about what they have to say, just go, sit there, listen and answer the question. There are still 22 ½ hours left in the day that you can waste on whatever you want. There are still nine Soundings events left to go to, surely you can find six you are at least slightly interested in. If not, do it anyway.

As for not being able to figure out how to submit your answer to the Soundings question, my advice is ask a Soundings instructor. I understand how sometimes you just don’t want to talk to people, or ask questions, because I am one of those people at times too. But the reality is, they can help, and no question is a stupid one. Or ask a friend, because more than likely someone on this campus can help you.

– Carly Trombley