Senior year of high school you begin applying to colleges. You tour a number of schools, examining the campus based on its size, its beauty, its potential. And you do your research, looking into the majors and programs each offers. You check the quality of the food, the happiness rating among current and past students. And after looking into all of this information you design the path for the next four years of your life.

You could never have known all that you now know, as a graduating college senior. You couldn’t have known that girl from the dining hall would become a close friend, eventual roommate, and best friend. You couldn’t have known that 40+ months—despite the hours of studying and being hungover that dragged on—would pass as quickly as you accepted your admission to your beloved school. You couldn’t have known how it would feel to have just weeks left in the place that, despite your worries, became a forever home.

We often take for granted that that feels eternal. Until we realize it actually has an end and actually, that end is near. That’s where you find yourself with a few weeks left until graduation. You’re at the bar with your friends on a Tuesday night because when will you get the opportunity again? You’re planning unforgettable senior year spring break trips. You’re laughing at and with each other, evoking smiles, radiating smiles, soaking in all the energy and all the memories that will have to do in place of reality in just a short time. Because soon enough, you won’t be living out “the best years of your life” any longer. They’ll simply be of the past—behind, but never too far.

I don’t think anybody can prepare you for all that college gives to you. You learn and relearn, live and transform. And you don’t realize you’re even doing it until you look back and see all that you became. The many personalities, desires, talents, and passions that you are today. You are you because of the past four years, and you will launch into “the real world” equipped with what you need to continue growing, learning, and becoming you.

For those that have yet to reach their senior year, know that it will come in the blink of an eye. Do all that you can, learn all that you can, experience all that you can. And for those who are staring into the very eyes of graduation, like myself: enjoy these last few weeks. Be a "yes man". Do all that you can before you're officially an alumnae. And lastly, smile. You just lived what are supposed to be the best four years of your life. And the memories will forever fuel you.