On a campus of more than 40,000 people, it’s easy to get lost. More than that, it’s easy to become detached.

But if you’re detached from your own university campus, why should it care about you? You have to invest in something to get anything back from it.

A critical part of President Ann Weaver Hart’s first 100 days in office was reaching out to student leaders and opening up the lines of communication. But none of those efforts can matter if you, the average student, aren’t paying attention.

Being an informed, engaged participant of the UA community means more than just going to class and being on campus sometimes. It sounds silly, but to be a participant, you have to participate.
Sadly, that means doing more than just occasionally reading the campus newspaper.

The Daily Wildcat may appreciate your support, and it is one of your best sources for UA news, but you’ll find information everywhere, whether it’s on social networking sites like Facebook or blogs that offer you campus news from an alternative perspective.

Better yet, try going directly to the source. Paying attention to the news makes you a passive participant, but you have the opportunity to take an active role too.

In a school so big, it’s hard to make your voice heard among so many to people in powerful offices like Hart’s. But you can engage in dialogue with your student leaders, whether they’re in the Associated Students of the University of Arizona or the Graduate and Professional Student Council.

It’s easy to not care about either institution or about what the Wildcat is writing about. There are a lot of things that seem to hit closer to home, whether it’s the fact that you’ve got a midterm coming up or you need to pay your rent tomorrow or you could really use some time to do your three weeks’ worth of laundry.

But members of your student government represent you, working on your behalf to answer to school administrators and the state Legislature. The concerns you’re facing now may be a lot more pressing at the moment, but they won’t matter six months or a year from now.

You should always know who the key players are on campus. Get to know who is a part of ASUA or GPSC. Know the names of campus administrators whose decisions concern your life. They may not know your name, but that’s no reason not to know theirs.

The work that your student government does with UA leadership like Hart and other members of the administration may have a lasting impact on you and future generations of students.
And because the people who represent you may play a hand in major policy changes, it’s vital to ensure they are doing a thorough and accurate job.

If you’re not paying attention to what may be happening to your own life, who is?

— Editorials are determined by the Arizona Daily Wildcat editorial board and written by one of its members. They are Bethany Barnes, Kristina Bui, Jason Krell and Alex Williams. They can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu or on Twitter via @WildcatOpinions .