By Cassidy Pate | Reporter
From the day you graduated high school and attended college orientation, the phrase “best four years of your life,” has been imbedded in your subconscious.
Whether you have heard it once or two hundred times, there is an underlying pressure for college students to create a better life for themselves the moment they step into the dorm room, lecture hall or even dining hall.
But what if college is not what everyone said it would be? How can students make it happen? It would be hypocritical for me to say that I have everything about college figured out, so let’s take it one year at a time.
To the freshmen, I would say to take a deep breath. You graduated high school less than three months ago, and now the world expects you to have this college thing figured out. Truth is, there’s a lot more to college than you might have expected. You’re just getting started, so try not to doubt yourself, grow from the things you do wrong, rejoice in the little things and be what you came here to be– a college student.
To the sophomores, I would say to take the experiences and lessons you learned your freshman year and use them to fuel the remaining years you have at your dream school. Whether your first year of college was the best or worst year of your life, you have a second chance to make things happen. You know where everything is on campus, so take advantage of that and have some fun being a mentor to freshmen.
To the juniors, I would say to embrace where you are in every moment, because in one short year you will have the real world ahead of you. It is easy to coast during this year, but it is also pivotal to keep striving for the goals you set two years ago, even if they have changed a little or a lot. Wear that class ring with pride and strut your stuff; you’re almost there!
To the seniors, I would say keep the memories you have made, yet focus on making twice as many during this, your final undergraduate year of college. Stop saying you will check off another box on your collegiate checklist tomorrow and go do it TODAY.
The key to making college the “best four years of your life,” is to realize that it will be what you make of it. These four years are a set you can never return to, so stop talking about other people’s best four years of their lives, and go make them yours.
These pieces of advice are easier said than done. It is up to you.
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in
your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your
own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to
go…” Dr. Seuss said in “Oh, the Places
You’ll Go!”
