Hello New, Shiny, Nervous, Awkward Freshman:

On this gray, rainy Wednesday, I looked out of my apartment window to see your minivans clogging up every side street and alleyway on my campus. I walked down Wisconsin Avenue and studied your grimacing father as he hauled a mini fridge out of the trunk of his Sedan, taking ten steps with the contraption just to stand in a line with nine other dads doing the same exact thing. I wondered if those were raindrops or tears tracing the tiny wrinkles on his face as he mentally prepared himself to say goodbye to his youngest daughter. "You can do this with five children," his face told me, "and it never gets easier."

I saw you nervously shake the hand of your roommate, the person you had carefully stalked on social media countless times since learning of his existence, and I tried to decide right then if you had just met your best man, the fellow that would stand up at your wedding in a few short years and regale your friends and family with the tale of your first night in O'Donnell Hall.

I saw your mom walking behind you as you carried a box of your most prized possessions into McCormick Hall. Though you were completely oblivious to this, she was beaming at the back of your head for a brief moment before quickly concealing her pride so as to avoid looking foolish. Her smile said, "Look at this capable adult that I created. Look at this curious, determined, brilliant Golden Eagle." And I was looking.

I, one insignificant senior, am a part of your Marquette family now. You are a part of mine. Though we may never meet, it is a strange but significant bond that we share. We will walk to class every weekday morning together, pass each other smiling and nodding sometimes and other times turning away to hide our sleepy eyes and bed head after a difficult night of studying. You may sit several pews ahead of me at Sunday night mass in the Chapel of the Holy Family and look at me warmly during the Sign of Peace. I might work with you in the Writing Center on your Rhetoric and Composition assignment, shake hands with you, and never see you again.

Regardless of our degree of interaction, I want to speak on behalf of my senior class and tell you that we are proud of you. Some of us might even be a little jealous of you. We remember being in your position. Though you may hear one of us mock you as you walk with 20 new friends down Kilbourn this Friday looking for a party to crash, know that we did that once as freshmen and actually do the exact same thing on Water Street now. When you experience dining hall indigestion after your first McCormick meal, know that we can sympathize with that and that yes, you will survive. Then go to Walgreens, and buy some Gas-X. When you have to pull your first all-nighter at Raynor to get that term paper done before 8 AM, look to your left because chances are good that one of us will be doing the exact same thing next to you. Poke us if we are asleep, please. Common side effects of senioritis include drowsiness and lethargy.

So thank you for helping us forget that we are seniors sometimes and transporting us back to our 18-year-old selves. We so support and so love and so value you. Seeing you move in reminds us that the Marquette community will continue to thrive even long after we have moved away from it, but for this year, we, together, are Marquette. Welcome to your next four years.

Cheers,

Aubrey, Marquette Class of 2017