Students are always advised to try new things in college, but too many fall into a safe routine. The truth is, experimenting with new ideas, cultures and activities can change the way you see the world.

These are the stories of three students who challenged themselves to get out of their comfort zones. All three found these to be life-changing decisions.

Skydiving

She wasn’t falling. She was flying.

“I was scared for like one second,” Mei Wang said. “Then it felt like flying in the sky.”

It was Aug. 25, the last day of Summer Break, and Wang, a graduate student in the magazine, newspaper and online journalism program, will never forget it. With an instructor tied to her back, she jumped from a small, four-passenger airplane. She fell at about 120 mph for approximately one minute, and then, with her parachute deployed, floated gracefully to the ground for another six minutes. Her landing was perfect.

After traveling abroad alone and diving in the ocean, skydiving was the next item on Wang’s to-do list. As one last hurrah before classes started, she and a few of her friends decided to make the short trip to Skydive Central New York in Weedsport, N.Y.

“We just thought we needed to do this, just to show we have the courage,” Wang said.

Wang is from China and has only been in the United States for the last three months. That tap on her shoulder indicating it was time to jump is one of her first memories of New York.

The jump was more than a chance to try an extreme sport. It was a chance to prove to herself that she had what it took to thrive in her new home. Still planning what she’ll do next — whether it’s finding a job or learning to skydive solo — Wang is much more relaxed about her future.

“Every time you finish something which challenges you, you feel more confident,” Wang said. “You feel like you can do more and that you should always try to be open. A lot of things are not as dangerous or difficult as you might have thought.”

Dance

Every week, Theresa LaPuma is surprised when she watches the tapes from her last dance practice.

“I’m shocked that I can actually do it,” LaPuma said. “I really didn’t think I could, but I actually picked it up pretty well.”

LaPuma, a senior psychology major, wanted to learn how to tap dance before graduating in May. That wasn’t enough, though, so she picked up hip-hop and jazz, as well. Despite never taking a dance class before in her life, she is now a member of the Orange Pulse Dance Troupe, a non-audition club on campus.

With a background in gymnastics, LaPuma said she needed to learn to focus her movement. Tap has no room for sloppiness, she said, because every movement makes a different sound. That’s what makes it so different for her. She wasn’t used to such a controlled style of dance. Having never tried it before, each step she learns is something new.

“I wasn’t sure what to expect,” she said. “I didn’t know if it was going to be people judging me because I’ve never danced before.”

What LaPuma likes most about Orange Pulse  — and tap — is how it has thrust her into a completely new social group. She said that every year she’s been at Syracuse University, she’s expanded her circle of friends by trying something new.

Only two weeks into practice, the troupe members are already spending more time together outside of the studio than they do dancing, LaPuma said. After practice, she’ll often go out to eat with her dance friends. When they hang out on weekends, it offers her a different dynamic than she is used to.

“I couldn’t meet enough people before I graduate,” she said. “The more people I meet, the better. I only wish I had done this earlier.”

Abroad

Aaron Frank can see people for who they are.

Frank, a senior television, radio and film major, traveled to Wales last fall as a part of SU Abroad’s ENCOMPASS Program, which brings together four students from five nations including Indonesia, Israel, Palestine the United Kingdom and the United States. The program’s goal is to spark intercultural dialogue about real-world issues and to build a more tolerant future.

“Before, I would have maybe categorized these people very quickly and said, ‘Oh they’re this type of person, they must be X, Y and Z,’” Frank said.

The 10-day trip was filled with discussions and workshops meant to create an environment to exchange ideas. Frank said because there were so many distinctive cultures mixing together, the dialogues often resulted in debate.

Students who took part in the program spoke about topics such as religious tolerance, universal health care and adoption rights for same-sex couples. Frank said some issues sparked furious arguments. His most eye-opening experience, though, occurred when he and his roommate on the trip walked out of a particularly heated discussion.

“My roommate, who was Palestinian, told me his mom would have paid him around $5,000 to stay home because she knew there were going to be Jews on the program,” Frank said. “It was real. And I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, he made that leap.’ That was very hopeful to me.”

Although the program opened Frank’s mind to new ideas about tolerance, he said the trip resulted in split opinions about what the future holds. On one hand, he is optimistic that students like himself are taking steps toward peace. But on the other hand, he is worried some people are too irrational and closed-minded to change.

People like that on the trip “tore his soul.”

“It just shows that, in some aspects, there’s no hope,” Frank said. “Everyone should do some type of dialogue with different cultures because it really shows how little we know about a certain type of person or culture.”

— Feature Editor Kristin Ross contributed reporting to this story

Published on October 20, 2013 at 11:28 pm

Contact Joe: jtinfant@syr.edu | @joeinfantino