Today I went to a workshop for personal enrichment called Managing Personal Relationships in College. I thought it was an interesting workshop because it discussed how, as college students, we’ll all be facing changes in our personal relationships with our friends, families, and significant others. It further discussed how we can build professional relationships through networking.
First we talked about family relationships. We discussed how, when entering college, we will be transitioning into adulthood and therefore, our relationships with our families will grow into more adult ones . This means setting familial boundaries. Of course, it is also going be a transition that our parents, in particular, will have to get used to since they still, for the most part, see us as kids.
We then discussed how friendship relationships are going to be different. For instance, in high school, most of us were used to having one particular group, or “cohort”, of friends. But now that we’re in college, it’s important to have a broad range of friendships. This will give us a chance to improve on our communication skills, since they are going to be very important to us – not just in friendships, but also in professional relationships. Which brings me to our next category of relationships: networking.
When networking, we need to start building relationships outside of our cohort. This includes professors, internship supervisors, and professional colleagues. And we have plenty of ways to start doing this, whether it’s through professors’ office hours, e-mail, or using the website LinkedIn.com. Apparently, this website is likened to a professional version of Facebook and its main purpose is to help us network with other people related in the field in which we want to work in. It was mentioned that it’s important to start networking in advance and not just when we’re going to need to. Networking will be really helpful when we start seeking out employment opportunities.
Then we talked about how to manage romantic relationships in college. I thought it was going to get kind of corny, but it actually was just practical information that might be good for us to keep in mind. Having intimate relationships will help us to develop communication and have healthy boundaries. And if a relationship doesn’t work out, then it’s good to have a healthy break-up. Meaning, you can be friendly with each other, but don’t try to spend so much time together because it might end up becoming an even messier situation and interfering with your success in college. And I think that’s good for any post-romantic relationship, not just when you’re in college.
Overall I think it was an interesting and informative workshop. I think LinkedIn.com was a particularly informative component of the workshop discussion because I think it will be really helpful for us when we start looking for new job opportunities.