Back when I was a prospective student looking at St. Olaf I remember being bombarded with a plethora of pamphlets and letters, many of which boasted the programs St. Olaf is most known for, including music. If you were to have looked at the pamphlets alone you might think 90% of the student body is involved in one of the many bands or choirs. However, for those of you with little to no experience/interest in music can rest assure that there is much more to do on campus!

Below are a few of the extracurricular activities I enjoy being involved in and believe all you might enjoy as well.

Student Organizations

With over 200 student organizations, and more being created every month, there is a wide range of clubs and people to interact with. Do you enjoy sailing? Join the Sailing Club. Juggling? Juggling Club. Enjoy riding horses? Equestrian club. Want to lobby for political or international issues? Join one of the many political clubs on campus. Want to perform in one of the many cultural celebrations for Africa/Latin/Asia Weeks? Join a multicultural cub. Want to discuss/explore/practice a religion with others? We have clubs for that too.

Most of my friends and I have found student organizations to not only allow us to freely explore our interests and passions, we also created connections with people who we would not have otherwise met, and eventually they became some of our best friends. My freshman year I joined over 12 clubs at the co-curricular fair in September and only ended up in 3 or 4 by the end of Sophmore year. However, by joining a large number of organizations I learned where I felt the most comfortable and who I connected with the best. So when the co-curricular fair comes around at the beginning of September, I highly encourage you all to join every club you think might be interesting.

Intramurals

Many students also want to partake in co-ed, non-competetive sports. Thankfully we have intramurals for that. Every semester different sports such as Soccer, Softball, Watertube Water Polo, the most famous one during the wintertime, Broomball, and others are available for you and your friends to participate in. So if you want to participate in a non-competetive and non-time commitment sport, consider intramurals!

When you all arrive on the Hill, you will see there is so much to do and get involved in. However, even if you aren’t in a music program I highly encourage you to go to the bands’ and choirs’ concerts because they are quite spectacular!

See you all in August!
Until then,

Bradley Sancken ’15