Looking back now, the past three and a half years seem like a whirlwind of hazy memories: lazy afternoons spent on the quad, countless professors who have helped you get through impossible classes, late night ice cream runs with the girls, and endless upon endless hours of studying.
Now, as you count down the days until you graduate, you’re wondering where the time went and what’s going to come next.
The next few months will be a roller coaster of emotions. You’ll be sad to leave behind what has been your home for the past few years, but excited to see what the future has in store. You’ll feel anxious, nervous and scared. Know that all of these feelings are completely normal to have, but rather than letting your emotions and fears take over, do your best to make the most out of your last semester in college.
Take advantage of everything; enjoy every single moment. Take in the beauty of JMU as you walk through campus each day; snap pictures to make the moments last.
This is your time. Take risks and challenge yourself. Watch yourself grow over the next semester. You’ll likely be a whole different person come graduation.
Be carefree and soak up every opportunity available to you. It’s not too late to join a new club or take up a hobby. Try things that you’ve always wanted to try, before it’s too late. There’s no place like college, so make each second count.
Explore Harrisonburg. Despite what you may be thinking, you will miss this little city once you’re gone. Take advantage of what the valley has to offer. Go shopping downtown, eat at restaurants unique to the ‘burg, or visit the farmer’s market. Take a picnic to the arboretum, play with the puppies at the puppy farm, do a bar crawl downtown. Spend an afternoon at Blue Hole and hike up Old Rag, form a team for trivia night at Clementine’s, watch the sun set from the top of Reddish Knob.
Complete the JMU bucket list-streak the quad, jump in Newman Lake, dress up the J-Maddy statue. Create your own bucket list with your friends, and make it a challenge to accomplish everything on it before the semester ends.
Make sure to cherish your friends-this is important. Some of the friends you’ve made in college may end up in your wedding party one day, while others may drift away. As much as we hope that won’t happen, life doesn’t always turn out the way we plan, so appreciate your friends for who they are now and make the most of the time you have left together.
On that note, continue to meet new people. You may have found your best friends already, but it never hurts to make some more. You will most likely never have the opportunity to meet this many people in such a short span of time again, so take advantage of that and make as many connections as you can.
Take this advice seriously: don’t slack off just because it is your senior year. Senioritis is all too common at this point in college, but as much as you want to live it up, don’t bring down your GPA at the moment it counts most. You can still balance work and play while ending your college career with a GPA to be proud of.
With that being said, take some time each week to think about your future. Whether you are like me and are in denial that graduation is slowly approaching, or you are all too excited to grow up, the reality is that we all have to work some day. So apply to jobs, internships, or grad schools. Consider what you want your future to look like, but don’t worry too much, you don’t have to have all the answers right now.
Most importantly, don’t stress about the little things; everything will fall into place the way it’s supposed to!
Just because college is coming to a close doesn’t mean that the adventures have to end. You can still have fun after college, explore new interests and meet new people. You are allowed to have nights full of tears and sadness, reminiscing with your best friends on all of the memories you’ve shared, but instead of looking at graduation as an ending, think of it as a new beginning, one that holds even more surprises to come. So use this last semester as a celebration. Celebrate your friends and the memories you’ve made together. Celebrate the experiences you’ve had and the ones yet to come. Celebrate your school, and know that the Dukes will always have a special place in your heart. Your time at JMU may be limited, but Just know the Memories are Unforgettable