It's the tenth week of the Fall Semester, with Halloween also on this week's schedule. How do these two things fit together? Simply, the question is about your social life and campus activities – what role are these playing in your life? Whether you are a full-time student or part-time, traditional age or older, or whatever your background, to what extent are you taking advantage of all that this campus and this region have to offer?

Since we're more than half-way through Fall Semester, what experiences have you had so far that are outside your classes, studies, papers, and academic efforts? What social activities have you been involved in? Are you enjoying meeting new people and having new experiences? Are these all you want them to be? How about getting involved with some of the campus events, whether social or recreational or cultural? Look at ways of getting involved, with Mason's office of Student Involvement (see http://si.gmu.edu/). Check out the calendar of events on their website.

Tied into Halloween is the Spooky Selfie Challenge – this starts on Halloween (this Friday) at 5:00 at the bridge by the Mason Pond; show up in costume and take a selfie picture at each of 8 locations. Free pizza is offered! See http://waves.gmu.edu/ for more information.

You might be interested in reading more about Campus Involvement as well as Social Life and Activities; these are topics with COMPASS, found under the "Community" icon (http://compass.gmu.edu/topics/). There, you’ll find some quizzes, brief essays, and links to lots of Mason and other resources.

The important thing is to take advantage of some of these opportunities. There are so many ways of being part of the community, of expanding your educational experience, and of grounding yourself for a richer and more fulfilling campus life. There’s no one magic solution for you; it’s totally your choice about how you put together your out-of-classroom experiences.