Congratulations! We've made it to our junior year. This is when the idea of life after college starts to settle in. Let's take a moment to realize that we made it through some of the most difficult parts of being in college. We made it through freshman orientation, assessment day, and the stress of not being able to get into your classes. I bring up this thought because we typically do not give ourselves enough credit for all that we have done. As we start to approach graduation day and the life thereafter, we should take comfort in what we have accomplished.
I have grown so much throughout my time here at James Madison University. This growth is due to the stresses, which I have previously mentioned, that we all have collectively been through. Although this all seems like a current struggle, it still plays a crucial role in our growth here at JMU. Yes, we go to classes to learn, but it's also the little things day to day that adds to our growth and development, not only our class experiences.
Now as juniors, we are settled into our majors, extracurricular activities, and social lives. Life is beginning to seem at ease, despite having this afterthought of life after JMU. Many of us choose to ignore this thought and wait to deal with it later. I know after all that we have been through, it is tempting to just get comfortable and ignore the inevitable, but we can not allow ourselves to. This is the time to apply for that internship, update your resume or go on that study abroad. We need to start thinking about how what we are doing now is going to play into our life after college.
Taking the time to draw the connections between all of the occurrences that we've had during our time at JMU can help paint the picture of what life will be like after graduation. Take a step back and think about how you dealt with the stress of not getting into class plays and how that experience helped develop the skills that you will take with you after graduation.
Our junior year is the time to begin thinking about these connections because we now have a decent amount of experience under our belt. This is the prime time to begin this process because any other time would be too late. Senior year is crunch time, so we need to do ourselves a favor and start the process now instead of waiting until later.
So from this moment on, do everything with intention. Grow through your classes with passion, because what you are doing now will impact your life after graduation. Put in those applications for internships. Start thinking about what goal in life you want to accomplish. What life do you want to live after college? No, you may not have everything planned out and you shouldn't. This doesn't mean you should go these last years without having an idea of after. Because there is a life after graduation.
