This is it, this is our year. Whether we transferred, took a year off, or needed a few extra years, we have made it to the year of graduation.

I can attest to the amount of times we have all probably wanted to drop out or never come back from break because reality would hit, and going back to post-syllabus week work was NOT the ideal. However, now we're all dreading the fact that we will be adults in less than five months and want to stay in college mode forever. Growing up is a ridiculously terrifying and gratifying feeling all at the same time based on our endless years of education and finally coming to the brim of the cliff, ready to leap into the unknown.

To those of you graduating in 2017, I will tell you this:

Flourish into the best version of yourself over the next couple of years. Our vocation may not be known, but our dreams have been with us since day one. We must understand that we aren't the same kids we were four years ago, we've become different. We have been broken down to the core, challenged in the many facets of life, whether it was through loosing friends, loosing a significant other, or failing a class, we've gone through endless amounts of experiences. The beauty of these situations, though, is that each challenge is unique to each and every one of us, molding our lifestyles and decision making. Recall, we all have had a variety of challenges, but our common ground is the burning ardor to become successful.

Challenge the limits of your mind. Don't let others tell you what you're not capable of, instead, look at the tremendous growth you've had and every endeavor you've pushed through. Don't become comfortable with your level of success, instead, continue to strive for better. Become your own motivator, become the person who doesn't settle, become the person that will look for the next big thing and never stop.

Be yourself, even if you have no idea who you are yet, do what feels right. In college, you'll find people that will be friends with you for the rest of your life as well as people you think would've made it, and didn't. You are not in this world to make others perceptions of you dictate your life, you are in this world to break barriers and crack the shell of insecurity, judgement, and serious self-deprecation. We will all figure out sooner or later what we're meant to do and who we're meant to be, but how can one do so when all one cares about is perception of others. Many have overcome such challenge, but many still deal with it, and that's okay. Remember, you are the only version of yourself. Let yourself have radical ideas, be liberal, be in love with your passions and dreams, fall in love, but do it for you.

Take care of yourself—you matter. Self care is such an important aspect of life and until you achieve a prime level of self care, you won't understand why it's so important. I struggled a lot with this until I found meditation as a perfect way to practice this, but it took me some good amount of time to get it down and use it as a method. The point is, try and find an outlet for yourself, whether it's prayer, running, reading, writing, take the time to find what works best for you to practice having a space and time for yourself. Don't get me wrong, it's great to have people around and enjoying everything in your surroundings and go out, but now that we're leaving a stage of our lives, we must dig deeper and understand what makes us happy at the core. Self care helps you become more aware of yourself, and truly understand what you need as a person: serenity, peace, understanding, control, patience, gratitude, the list goes on. Whatever you're seeking, do it in a way that helps you and satisfies you, and never feel bad about it. If watching Netflix without talking to people for five hours, do it. If it's eating at a diner with your three best friends each week, do it. Don't place limits on yourselves, we are still so young, and whatever helps you truly help you understand and grow with yourself (or one another), do it!

So, prepare yourself. We are here. We have come this far. Take this next semester and own it. Flourish, challenge, battle, be in control, love yourself, love others, be positive and stay positive.

To us, to 2017, cheers!