I got into running because my best friend told me one day that he was going to start running every day, and each day he would run farther than the previous day. So he did exactly that, running each day(give or take) and increasing his distance.This inspired me like nothing had before and all of the sudden I had the desire to run. At first, it was the hardest thing I had ever done, but after weeks of self motivation and dedication running became my outlet. Running turned into my time of the day to tune out the world and focus. I cranked up the music to drown out the noise of the world and ran until i felt the need to stop. I adopted this huge sense of self-motivation in my running. Nothing kept me going like the thought of the feeling I would have when I finished my run and the sense of accomplishment that came with every mile I completed. My self-motivation carried me all the way through sophomore year and I ended the year with my proudest accomplishment to date: finishing the Pittsburgh Half-Marathon. Pay attention to those around you because they will inspire you so much. But it is your job to take their inspiration and motivation yourself into actually doing something with it. We know that you can change the world, but you first have to convince yourself of that.

Anonymous

I’ve seen an older gentleman come in, stand in front of CMU and he just stood there, crying. He turned to me and asked if I went here. I told him I did and he cried harder. He said he was so happy to see this community grow, see students laughing with their friends, run to classes and actually try to run to class, and be happy that he could come back and see this place. This was inspiring to see… See a man so touched to come back to his school and be this happy to see it. Makes me excited to grow older, graduate from the school, get a job, and then come back to be this happy about a great community like CMU.

Anonymous

The day I first failed a programming assignment (11 points out of 20), I worked on it for eight hours in a row. I had hoped to get it done at a reasonable hour so that I could have dinner with friend and go out with another group of friends, but clearly, as my program continued to perform with 33% accuracy rather than the goal of 76% accuracy, neither of those things were going to happen. Twenty minutes before the deadline, i gave up and submitted the assignment. I sat in my room for a while, bummed that my grade in the class had just dropped from an A to a C, and committed myself to yet another night of watching Netflix alone. Just as I was going to start another episode of Breaking Bad, I realized that I really needed someone to vent on, so I texted my friend and asked if she was home. Sure enough, she was. We ended up ranting to each other for an hour about our shitty days(over cookie dough, of course) and eventually decided to watch Hercules. As awful as my day had been , being able to vent about it with someone else let me get over the failure a lot easier than I had expected. Never be afraid to open up to other people about your problems --- there’s always someone willing to listen, and if you’re lucky, they’ll have cookie dough and Disney movies to make it easier.

Anonymous

Some people go to college knowing exactly what they want to do with their lives. Some people go to college not knowing what they want to do at all. One question you should answer for yourself is: why are you here? Why are you putting yourself through so much work, countless all-nighters, stressful weeks, hours of debugging, pages of proofs, over and over again? There has be to a reason for all of it.For me, as generic and unoriginal as it may sound, I want to be part of something that will change more than just my own life. Everyone wants the world to be a better and more interesting place, I want to help make that happen. I don’t know how yet, but I know that in order to do it, I need to learn as much as I can. Some people are creative and gifted and don’t need to go to college to give back to the world. But, I know that everyday I spend here, I learn one more thing that will help me get to where I want to be and the more powerful I become. I’m getting one step closer to fulfilling my goal.

Anonymous

Be open with the people that you are closest with. Be open about your happiness, failures, achievements, flaws, emotions, reactions, issues, loves and tell these people. I learned at a young age to keep all of the saddest, most damaging events in my life a secret from just about everyone around me, which translated into also keeping all of the most amazing, wonderful, exciting events in my life a closed off from them as well. It’s nearly impossible to connect any further with people in this way. And then I learned - here at Carnegie Mellon - the need, and the incredible reward to be open with people. Carnegie Mellon is your home for at least eight months out of the year and this place demands everything of you. Allow yourself to thrive - be open about yourself and be open towards other.

Anonymous