There is a lot that can be accomplished in four years at Georgetown, but a lot that can be overlooked if you let yourself become sucked into the Georgetown bubble. The Georgetown bubble has stopped me from touring the monuments, visiting the Smithsonian and eating at Busboys and Poets. I have at times become so trapped in the cycle of school and extracurriculars that M Street and Healy Lawn were the most exciting places I visited.

Even though I didn’t always explore Washington D.C., the Georgetown bubble offered its own excitements. When I started Georgetown as a freshman, I had no idea that I would end up so thoroughly engaged on campus. As a naive first-year student, my only objective was to absorb the knowledge of the researchers and dignitaries around me. I never imagined being an active leader on campus. After New Student Orientation in August 2009, I planned to lock myself in my room and study all day without a social or extracurricular life.

But that would quickly change after I received an email inviting all College freshmen to run for College Academic Council. After a mere three weeks on campus, I found myself running against nine other candidates for four seats. I swiftly became quite social as I actively knocked on doors in freshman residence halls, gave campaign spiels in Leo’s and handed out quarter sheet fliers during parties. Little did I know, I was slowly becoming a campus leader.

On my 18th birthday, I learned that I had been elected to the College Academic Council. I made my most significant impact and contribution on the Hilltop during my freshman year, as my colleagues and I worked to implement the business administration minor after many negotiations between the College and the McDonough School of Business deans’ offices. It makes me proud to hear my peers say that they are pursuing a business minor while standing in the stir-fry line at Leo’s.

After freshman year, I took on more leadership roles within Res-Life and the Student Activities Commission. I even organized a petting zoo for stress relief during finals with the Southwest Quad Hall Council.

Staying on campus had its advantages. My campaign video for SAC chair took on a life of its own, with students imitating Jed Feiman’s (COL ’12) “Dalvin Butler” voice. Outside of structured extracurricular activities, I began to explore my creative side. Each week, I ventured to Walsh in the middle of the night to release all of my artistic energy through painting. Even within the Georgetown bubble, the Hoya experience I’d envisioned had been surpassed by a million percent.

While my experiences as a student leader shaped my understanding of Georgetown, my Hoya experience was not complete until I finally got to explore the District last summer. I worked at the RHO and was luckily to spend many warm days at the National Mall, in Dupont Circle and on U Street.

Now, my GUTV talk show, “The Hoya Experience” has opened my eyes to the media world at Georgetown. As a freshman, I never would have thought that I would create my talk show and produce the short films “The GUSA Sabotage” and the newly released “The Georgetown Retaliation.”

The Hoya experience is what you make it. Mine was filled with unexpected adventures both inside and outside the front gates.

Dalvin Butler is a senior in the College. He is the host of GUTV’s “The Hoya Experience.”