Dear Incoming Freshmen,
Senior year means the time of the never-ending questions about where you’re going to college. By now, you might actually have an answer or at least be getting closer to making a decision. However you’re feeling now about this next chapter in your life -- excitement, nervousness, senioritis, or a little bit of everything, here’s my advice on how to approach it.
Cherish the memories. The memories of Friday night football games and pep rallies, sleepovers where you ate too much junk food and laughed until you cried, the teachers who taught you about things deeper than what was in the textbook, and all the other little moments that happened in all-too-familiar hallways.
Leave it behind -- who you were, who others thought you were, who you thought you had to be. Everyone says college is a fresh chance to reinvent yourself, but college is actually the time to be yourself. Nobody cares about who you used to be. Your SAT score and high school accomplishments no longer matter anymore, but the person you are does matter. Make decisions based on the individual you want to become.
Your past defines how you got to this point, but it does not define your future, or even your present. All your past experiences, whether good or bad, God worked together to form you into the person you have become. But now they no longer have a hold on you, so continue to live life in light of those experiences but no longer in the midst of them.
Resist the temptation to compare yourself to others. Everyone wants to show they're having a great college experience and as fun as your high school friends' Snapchat stories and Facebook photos look, don't feel like you have to prove you're having even more fun. Have your own college experience.
This is your chance, but not your last chance. Don't get caught up in making everything about college perfect. There's a lot of pressure on choosing the right school and having your life planned out when the reality of it is you're going to be happy almost anywhere and most likely change your major at least once. If you mess up one first impression, your reputation is still intact. Remember that we're all still learning and we're all still making mistakes together.
And for now, enjoy. Enjoy this time that is in front of you, the last stretch of senior year and every minute of graduation, from the cash-filled envelopes to the overwhelming amount of attention from relatives to the last time your friends are all together as a class. Because as good as it is now, it only gets better from here.
