Dear Soon-to-be Graduates,

Whether you’re graduating from high school or college, soon you will be moving on to something new – and maybe something scary or unfamiliar. But, before you make that transition, you must finish what you started. Now is the time to soak up all the greatness your school has to offer.

All those long nights and tedious homework assignments may have you wishing that graduation would hurry up and get here, but don’t wish away your last precious moments. It’s easy to want to “get out” when you’ve spent four years in the same place with the same people doing the same things, but soon it will be over, and your memories will be all you have left.

Graduation is a bittersweet time. While you should pride yourself in the accomplishments and success you have had at your school, graduation is also a form of closure. Many of the people in your class you will never see again, even some people you were close with. Like you, they must move on to something new and embark on their own personal journeys. Sadly, some of those journeys consist of goodbyes, and not see-you-laters.

Take this time to immerse yourself in everything your school has to offer and do so with people who are special to you. Go to every sporting event, even if you dislike the sport. Attend every school function, even if you think it will be lame. Wear your school colors, and even if you feel like you hate your school right now, represent it in a way that will make you proud later.

Henry David Thoreau said he wanted to “live deep and suck out all the marrow of life,” and that’s how you should feel regarding the time you have left at your school. Sure, there have been good and bad times, but what’s worse is having regrets. View your time as a chance to accomplish anything and everything you were either too scared to do or put off to a later date. As bad as it sounds, you’re running out of “I’ll do it tomorrows” because soon “tomorrow” will be your last day on campus. We always hear people say that they wish they would have done something while they were still in school, and now is your chance to instead say that you did everything you could with the time you had.

While you’re out there seizing every day you have left, don’t forget to cherish the little things. People forget that graduation is a busy time in everyone’s life. With the stresses of deciding your next steps while staying focused on the present, it’s easy to overlook things, such as coffee dates with your best friends or a night out at your favorite restaurant. Don’t forget to make time for these important pleasures because years from now when you look back at your school years, that is what you will remember – not how stressful that test was.

Don’t be irresponsible – be productive. But, also, take some time out to just look around and appreciate the place where you have spent years of your life. Enjoy it, so when it’s gone, you can look back and be glad it happened.

Sincerely,

A Soon-to-be Graduate