Walking around campus on the weekends, sometimes it’s hard to imagine we go to a school that boasts a substantial population of over 20,000 students. As a matter of fact, there are some places on campus you can visit and not see another soul, save the occasional duck or stray cat. Now of course I wouldn’t expect the campus to be as jam packed as it is during the week, however I find the near total absence of student activity somewhat concerning. It’s a shame, because although I will admit that we aren’t exactly in the thick of the action here in Statesboro, I don’t think that’s any reason to abandon our humble home.

I can’t speak for everyone, however this issue came to my attention when I started noticing that many of my friends and classmates were leaving nearly every weekend. At first I thought that maybe he was an outlier, however I began to notice more and more students making Boro external plans each weekend.

This weekend I understand. With no game at Paulson last Saturday, and the current decline of Statesboro’s nightlife (Shenanigans recently becoming 21 and up certainly didn’t help) I could understand if some students wanted to take advantage of the seeming lack of events to visit friends and family. However, I’ve noticed that many students will leave regardless of what’s going on. It’s seems like they leave because they can, not because they actually even need too.

As I mentioned before, many students leave to visit with friends and family. Of course family is important, and it’s always nice to stay in touch with old friends, but a part of growing up is recognizing that sometimes things change. It’s only natural after all, if you go from seeing someone everyday, to going to school hundreds of miles apart, that relationship is going to suffer. I’m not saying you can’t remain friends with your old high school buddies, just that if you frequently leave campus just to see them, you may miss out on great opportunities to make new friends or experience new things here on campus. I miss my best friends dearly, but I know that it would be just plain unreasonable for me to leave every weekend to visit, despite how much I miss them.

Now obviously during football season, our weekend retention rate spikes, even those who aren’t that concerned with sports tend to stick around for the social aspects of game day. While this is great, I think it’s important to note that there are plenty of other reasons to stay in Statesboro besides good old fashioned football. There are plenty of other events constantly running on campus, athletic or otherwise. If you need to find a reason to stay on campus, all you need to do is look for one. The softball and volleyball teams especially could benefit from more student support.

There are plenty of events happening not just on campus, but even around town. I’ve found this to be especially true during the fall. Between Homecoming, numerous holidays, and plenty of student activities, there’s plenty to do. At the end of the day, we’re all adults who can make their own decisions, I can’t tell you when it is and isn’t appropriate for you to leave. That being said I think we could all stand to try and steel ourselves, and instead of making the comfortable, and easy choice of going home, make an effort to find a local alternative.