Discover your identity

By Marcos Moreno

I was thinking the other day about how much I have changed since high school. Now for a lot of you at Santa Clara, high school wasn't so long ago, but to me it seems like ages.

This little introspective dialogue set me to thinking about how important it is to find some kind of identity in college. Isn't this supposed to be the point in your life when you figure out who you really are? In my opinion, it is. Yet, I don't necessarily feel that your major determines your identity. Not that there's a problem with delving into something you love. But I think identity is determined by the things we do and the choices we make -- at least this is how I think it should be.

So how, in a private Jesuit university located in the Silicon Valley, do you find yourself? I have a feeling we're going to find out together. Let's start with the things that set you apart. Clothes: sure it's a superficial way to begin, but the clothes you wear imply certain things about your character. They can make you stand out or help you fit in. Keep in mind though, that what people infer may not actually be true of your character. Senior Thomas DuRoss points out, "A person who dresses like a slob very well could have all of his or her ducks in a row, and you would never be able to tell by the way he or she dresses." This is true, but the point I'm making is that everyone has his or her own idea of style, and certain styles are shared among groups of people.

Clothes aside, I think the type of people we hang out with build our character and identity more than anything else. I think we model ourselves after our friends. Our friends are the people who we want to associate ourselves with because we admire their qualities. They teach us about ourselves, and foster an identity. "Who we hang out with reflects who we are, or at least a small fraction of who we are," said senior Kristen McKee. Our friends define us.

There are millions of other factors that go into making up our personality and identity. Family life, past experiences and knowledge are just a few. "I feel like I choose who I am ultimately, so it's up to me," said junior Eric Gotthelf.

I think it is ultimately your choice, but how do you know you're making the right one? Let's be honest, our friends tell us when we've gone too far, screwed up, or are about to make a bad decision. If you're close to your family, they will tell you all these things too. But when you're away at college, you need friends to stand in. We need training wheels when discovering an identity for ourselves.

Really, there's nobody else like you. So don't you want to know what makes you so unique? Be who you are at Santa Clara. Find yourself.

Marcos Moreno is a senior English major.