The power of friendship: A Youtuber’s guide to making the most out of college
Ever since I started university, I’ve wondered about what my experience would be like. Would it be like the movies and television shows that I watched? Would there be parties and fraternities at every corner? Not quite. However, I noticed that some universities have a more exciting scene than others.
Many students see the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) as a not-so-exciting school. Compared to other “party schools”—like Western University, Wilfrid Laurier University, and McMaster University—UTM is widely regarded as a commuter school with no social scene, lacking widely known aspects of student life like homecoming, fraternities, and parties.
Although the UTM campus is relatively small and located among neighbourhoods, there are still ways to make the most of college without huge parties and extravagant events. One YouTuber I know serves as a great example of someone who maximized his college experience. Anthony Po, or @Anthpo, embraced the power of friendship and documented it all in his content throughout his time in college.
Anthpo is a YouTuber with over 1.8 million subscribers and is known for his many antics, including playing fictional characters in front of students like Fat Yoshi and Perry the Platypus—skits that made him go viral in high school.
As his content shifted from green screen parodies to comedy skits, he eventually landed on making content around his college life after moving back to his campus following the Covid-19 pandemic. There, he began to hone his content around what he calls “the power of friendship”—a recurring theme across all of his college videos which shows how simple ideas and getting together with friends can help you make the most out of college.
Sure, students often focus on the next big campus party, but for Anthpo, college was about much more. Hosting presentation nights, Wii tournaments, and ridiculous challenges to keep students from losing their minds are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Anthpo’s college experience.
It may seem like a stretch for the average student to do things like this, but you don’t need to be a YouTuber to have fun. Anyone can hold a Nerf tournament with their friends, start a band or simply relive their childhood by going to Chuck-E-Cheese with friends like what Anthpo did. The college experience goes beyond college and into the little things—spending time with people you love, getting out there and meeting new people, and most of all, trying new things.
Even with a campus as small as UTM, fun things can still be a reality if students have hope in a good community and in themselves to do something fun for everyone occasionally instead of just waiting for something to happen.
Last month, I came across a post on Instagram by @SpottedAtUTM2.5 where a student proposed a game of duck-duck-goose on campus. Sure, it may not have been a large gathering, but it only takes one person to make a difference in someone’s day and host fun little events where people can come together and do something fun without a particular reason. No club policies, no commitments, and no requirements of any kind. I was confident that after seeing an event like this take place, there was hope for UTM to take after Anthpo’s antics and bring people together to do something fun on campus for a change.
It’s as simple as booking a room on campus to make your presentation nights with your friends, gathering in the middle of a field to have a Nerf battle, or simply holding a giant game of manhunt across campus. I feel that hope for a fun university experience can happen through events like this because of YouTubers like Anthpo who showed the world what you can make of college if you keep a positive mindset and just gather with friends to do something fun.
