Dear Freshmen,

I need y’all to listen closely. You hear it all the time, especially from your parents, but your college years will be some of the best ever, and they will fly by. Four years seems like a long time, but as a senior now, four years have flown past me quicker than they came.

I came to college dreading the tests, and now I wish I would have studied just a little more for my college algebra final. I wish I went to Marriage and Family class just one more time to get that A instead of getting a B because I missed five times. I truly wish I would have gotten more involved as a freshman instead of just doing the bare minimum.

You freshmen need to get out there and make a difference on this campus and be leaders. Be the leader that I decided not to be my freshman year. Join every club you can without spreading yourself too thin. Give Greek life a chance if you haven’t already. There is something for everyone, and I wish I would have done more my first year of college. Don’t get me wrong, I have absolutely no regrets, and I’m very happy with where I am and what I’m doing, but of course I always wonder what I could have done my freshman year had I gotten off my butt and gone to interest meetings for different organizations. I’m not a shy person, but I absolutely hate going to things where I don’t know anyone, so the thought of going to interest meetings scared me to death. Don’t be that person. I missed my chance to do so much my freshman year just because I was scared. Then I learned that everyone else was just as scared as I was.

Moral of the story for you freshmen is to get up and go do something. This is your home for the next four—maybe more—years. Make the most of it and get involved because if you don’t, you’ll be one semester away from graduating wishing you could do it all again. And as always, you can retake a class but you can't retake a party. Live a little. ;)