From the beginning of their first day on campus, college first-years hear the mantra “get involved in student organizations.” They hear it from their greeters, professors, and even their friends who start getting into organizations to occupy their time.

Yet at what point does a student become over-involved in both on and off-campus activities? What are the effects of this over-involvement on a student’s academic and social life?

There are many fun and active clubs and organizations that a student can join in order to meet people and engage in their college environment. Everything from Greek life and student government bodies that involve a lot of time and energy, to more casual groups such as a tabletop board game club or a weekly swing dance club are available for students.

However it is impossible to join everything, and indeed joining too many organizations can put a lot of undue stress on a student.

When being a part of any organization there is an amount of responsibility that must be taken on, even if it is just as a member. Members who also hold executive positions within an organization are burdened with the further responsibility that their position entails. Eventually this responsibility will compound based on the number of organizations a person may be a part of.

So at what point is there too much responsibility for one person to handle? That depends on the person themselves, but ultimately there is a point of being too involved, where they have taken so much responsibility that it interferes with their ability to live their life.

Adding together the factors of school work, financial employment, and having an active social life, it can be difficult to balance organizations in school with these things.

Admittedly being a part of an organization is an aspect of one’s social life, but as mentioned previously it entails a certain level of responsibility that may prevent one from enjoying that social life to its fullest. The effects of being overburdened in such a way all boil down to one key thing: stress.

Stress, despite what people are often told, is healthy in a lot of ways. It’s a motivating factor in accomplishing tasks, and it allows someone to know their mental limits and how much they can perform at any one time. However, too much stress is unhealthy, especially when taking on too much responsibility it is possible to take in an untold amount of stress as well.

Stress is not the only ill effect that being too involved can have on a person. Often, when one is involved in many organizations it is also a burden on the amount of time that can be spent devoted to those organizations. When less time is spent with one group or another, it can be hard to build strong, interpersonal relationships with the people in one group or another.

It is because of the unhealthy effects of being over-stressed that it becomes necessary to take a step back and analyze the burden placed upon a person’s shoulders. Then prioritize, decide what is important and what is superfluous. With decisions like these it is possible to be both involved on campus and have a balanced social life and academic life.

Being involved on campus is wonderful, it allows many pro-active people and groups to create a greater sense of community. To be a part of something more, is why many people join organizations that are involved around campus. If it weren’t for student organizations we would not have the incredible conferences we have each year. Organizations such as Building Bridges, the MAYDAY! Peace Conference, and many other student organizations provide a wealth of opportunities that should be enjoyed to the fullest.

I encourage anyone and everyone to get involved as much as they can, but not to such a level that it becomes a problem. The message that should be taken from this is simply not to spread oneself too thin, at the risk of the undue amount of stress this could cause.