Dear Senior Class of 2016,
It feels like just yesterday it was Graduation Day. You’re about to walk across that stage and shake the principal’s hand as he hands you a diploma and congratulates you. Pause and smile because your mother is going to frantically try capturing this moment with the four different cameras she has strapped to her. Soak it all in. Treasure those last few months living under the same roof as your parents – as frustrating as that can be - because the day you leave for college, nothing will ever be exactly the same. Yes, you’ll still come home over break or for a long weekend. You’ll try your best to stay in touch with your high school friends, but it won’t be like it was Senior Year. You won’t drive the same route to school every morning. You won’t come home to a home cooked meal and your mom asking about your day. You won’t go to Steak n’ Shake on a Friday night with your best friends after your high school football team won the game. Welcome to Freshman Year (again), welcome to college, welcome to growing up, welcome to your new normal.
College is so much fun, I promise, but prepare yourself for change - good change and hard change. It’s a transition that for the first time in your life you have to make on your own. I still have so much I have to learn, but here’s what I’ve learned as my Freshman Year wraps up.
1. You will eventually have to say goodbye to your parents.
Some of you are ready, some of you aren’t. Either way, prepare yourself, because your mom will cry. As she’s hugging you, she will squeeze in that last piece of “mom pre-college advice” that haunted you all summer. Make sure you listen to all of her advice because you will use every piece of it. You’ll be amazed by how much closer you and your parents will become in that first year. You’ll call them for advice, tell them exciting news, vent about who knows what, or call crying because you’re homesick. You’ll come to appreciate them and FaceTime. You will begin to realize they are and have always been in your corner and will do everything to help you succeed in life. Lean on them, they’re your greatest support system and they love you so much.
2. You’re now an independent college kid. Congrats.
You’re on your own. This isn’t like Home Alone; you can't stay up late watching scary movies and eating bowls of ice cream for dinner every night. College is one of life’s biggest wake-up calls. You will soon learn how quickly 24 hours goes by in one day. You cannot sleep your day away. College shows you how important it is to manage your time, wisely balancing your social, academic and free time. You’re going to need to know when to say no and when to allow yourself to have fun. Learning how to manage your time correctly in college is a skill you will need all throughout life. Don’t stress, you’ll start to adapt to your new routine and lifestyle and things will click before you know it.
3. Make as many friends as possible.
My mom always told me that I could never have enough friends in life. This is especially true in college. It shouldn’t matter if you’re going to college with half the kids from your high school or if you don’t know a soul on moving day. Everyone is the new kid and everyone is in the same position as you. It’s the perfect year to start new friendships and maintain the old ones. Remember that many of you haven’t had to make new friends since kindergarten. You’ve been with the same people since pre-k, so give yourself a break if it takes a bit longer than planned to make friends. Eventually, you’ll find your people and will be attached at the hip, having sleepovers every night and going on spontaneous adventures on the weekends. These friendships will be genuine and real. They will be the friends you’ll have forever. Get excited for what the future holds, be a person people enjoy being around, and be yourself, always.
4. Enjoy it, because nothing beats freshman year.
After your freshman year of college, the next three years will be completely different. You won’t be the new kid on the block anymore. You won’t wander campus like a deer in headlights trying to find your classes. You won’t be scared of the 20-something upper classman with facial hair towering over you. You won’t be living in a cramped dorm, the kind that’s perfect for catnaps between classes, with a potluck roommate. You won’t depend on campus dining to supply you three meals a day. You won’t have the privilege of continuing to use a community bathroom, complete with shower shoes and hot water that scolds you every time someone flushes the toilet (HALLELUJAH). Enjoy freshman year, please, because before you know it, you’ll be registering for sophomore classes. Soak in every moment, enjoy the good, learn from the bad and reminisce on the sweet and somber moments because you will never be a freshman again. It will go by so fast, and you won’t realize it until your bags are packed and your dorm room is as empty as it was on moving day.
To the class of 2016, appreciate these last few months of normalcy. Embrace it. Enjoy it, but trust me when I tell you, it does get better than this.
The Senior Class of 2015
