We at the Editorial Board challenge ourselves and our readers to examine how we spend our time and how committed we are to the things we choose.

In this season of searching for jobs and internships, we hope our peers make an effort to be substantive in their pursuits. In environments ranging from the academic to the professional, from the social to the residential, we can all think of people we know who are shameless “resume-padders,” involving themselves in countless organizations and activities for no other reason than to enhance their reputations on paper, while never putting their full heart and soul into anything.

Many if not most Stanford students exhibit a degree of dedication for causes and organizations outside of themselves. Whether they are helping to organize charity events, serving in student government or actively working with various student groups, this campus is filled with motivated and tenacious people. Most of the time, you would be hard-pressed to hear anything disparaging about those who commit themselves to numerous forms of campus activity and public service. What the Editorial Board would like to suggest, however, is that there is a distinct difference, if only on a spiritual level, between those who commit themselves out of passion and those who are simply trying to bolster their own image and qualifications.

This issue is not black and white, by any means. A great many students probably line up somewhere in the middle, dividing their time equally between the things they deeply care about and the endeavors which serve only to advance them from one point to another. Some students balance their class schedules between the classes they love and the ones they are only enduring to advance to another level. Others may agree to work as an intern in a business they dislike, but with the mindset that it will one day help them be able to do what they actually enjoy. You might choose to follow someone on LinkedIn, knowing full well that you would never want to follow that person on Facebook. These kinds of things happen every day, and sometimes they are necessary. What is most important to keep in mind, however, is that at this point in our lives we are all still growing into the people we will one day become, and it would be very sad to spend this time connecting only to the people, organizations and ideas that will be of benefit to us some other time.

With spring quarter approaching, graduating seniors will be accepting job offers while most other undergraduates commit to summer internships. While this is always a stressful and uncertain time of the year, the Editorial Board hopes that all students on campus, “resume-padders” included, will keep in mind that the true value of a person or experience is not always determined by what value they can be to you in the future, but rather by what can be attained here in the present moment.