Icannot begin to count how many times I have tried to start a paper and gotten stuck. There have been numerous times when I turned to magazines to find a diet or exercise plan for myself, and it did not work for me. Every time I get a new gadget, I play around with it to figure out all of its new functions. This usually results in me messing something up and having to reset the device. I never realized Mississippi State University offers services that would help me with all of these problems for free. But like so many of my colleagues, I was unaware of these services. Why is that? Is it because they are not advertised enough, or is it just that we do not take the time to explore all of our campus offerings?
    MSU offers so many services to students that we do not take advantage of. This may be because campus services are not openly or regularly advertised. I did not know that I could skip my trip to Redbox and rent DVDs from Mitchell Memorial Library. I wish I had known earlier I could go to the library’s I.M.C. and make an appointment to get a tutorial on how to use computer programs like Adobe InDesign. After some exploration on the school website, I found that MSU has something called a Parents’ Club that offers support and information about MSU resources and activities.
   One service on campus I was excited to hear about is the free nutrition counseling students can receive from the Longest Student Health Center. As I was visiting the Sanderson Center, I saw a small, yellow piece of paper taped on several of the walls that gave a number for students to call if they wished to receive counseling on nutrition. I looked this up on the school website and saw that a nurse would speak to you about what diet would suit you personally and help those with food allergies and sensitivities. When I told a friend about this she was shocked and made an appointment right away. I started to think that if my friend and I did not know about these services, how many other students are unaware of all the offerings.
   I decided to ask as many students as I could whether or not they were aware of any of the services I just recently discovered, and if they could tell me anything they think most students would not know that MSU offers. After talking with many seniors, juniors, sophomores, freshmen and graduate students, the majority of them were unaware of all of MSU’s offerings. None of them could tell me something about our campus offerings they thought others may not know. When I asked them how they find out about campus services, all of the answers were the same — from class or a teacher recommendation.
    I do not think this issue comes from lack of advertisement. When I looked on our school website I found many different offerings by simply typing “services” into the search box. Students need to take the time to explore their school’s website and become familiar of all the services offered to them. They may be pleasantly surprised at what they find.