Have you ever heard college sophomores complain about how terrible their first years of college were?

I have. Some chalk up the bad experience to tough classes and unforgiving professors, and others note the dire feelings of insignificance one feels when shoved into an intimidating and highly populated college environment.

And a few people I know have complained of severe boredom, one or two of them citing it as a reason for dropping out of school.

Wait, what?

Sure, everyone will experience mind-crushingly nasty boredom at one point or another during college. But to complain of terrible, recurring boredom at college, let alone classify it as a dropout factor, is a rather lazy way of thinking if you ask me.

And in a way, I criticize myself with this comment. I was excruciatingly bored for the first 2.5 weeks of my freshman year, resulting in a Levi who went to the Rec Center twice a day, played excessive amounts of Warcraft III and who engaged in little social interaction with others.

But then, that Levi found out about all of the fun things about college: the ones that do not involve the dorm room.

Besides, free time + computer games + too much exercise = BlugGuahaGuhhh.

So in thinking back on the topic, depression stemming from boredom stemming from inactivity isn’t really a problem of laziness. It’s more of an issue relating to the overwhelming nature of one’s first few weeks at college, coming from the intimidating high school-to-college transition period.

But, it is a problem nonetheless, and thankfully, the solution to said problem lays all around us, embodied in the extracurricular activities abound at the University.

I experienced the boredom last semester. But I did something about it.

I got involved in fun and challenging organizations such as Dagorhir Battle Games, The Chapman Learning Community, BG Undead – I even tried my hand at fencing last week (needless to say, I had my rear end handed to me on a silver platter).

I’m glad to have overcome the boredom sickness through campus engagement. And when I say that complaining about college boredom is a lazy way of thought and action, I do so only to reinforce the fact that there are tons of activities here for students to participate in.

With a healthy focus on academics, a few extracurricular activities thrown in, possibly a student job and some exercise commitment all mixed together, free time at college should (ideally) be minimal, but not too minimal to induce “I’m going crazy!” stress.

However, am I in a credible position to comment on this issue?

I mean, the soul-consuming dullness one can experience during his or her freshman year can be quite serious. I was fortunate enough to not have this boredom escalate into chaotic junk food feeding-frenzy territory.

I (thankfully) inoculated myself against the mind lethargy before it manifested itself into something worse.

But what about those who have a serious problem with the deteriorating lassitude of cooped-up dorm room life?

My advice: get out and do something. Staying in the dorm room will only promote feelings of “Ugghhghhgh.”

The only way to fix the problem is to take action and to do something. That’s my advice to those who feel that their college experiences aren’t all they’re reputed to be.

Besides, there are so many different activities, sports, clubs, organizations, fraternities and sororities, student government positions and free events available to the student body that it never ceases to surprise me when so many people’s weekend plans involve little more than the words “Natty Light.”

But I’ve had a good freshman year. The extracurricular activity feast here definitely kept me satisfied, and I’ll be coming back for more come next semester.

So in case you’re looking to get more out of the four-year college experience, try some campus engagement. Or, if you’re already engaged, try some new activities. That’s what I plan to do next semester.

But just how important is campus engagement? Well, I am 100 percent assured of the following: If not for my extracurricular activities so far this year, I’d be a student with a 4.0 grade point average and a 0.5 self-esteem point average. Ouch.

Thank goodness for foam swords and community service.