I’ll be graduating Saturday and it’s hard to believe my time at Appalachian has already come and gone. I’ve been on the Her Campus team for four years now. I have written countless articles on fitness, fashion, and everything in between, but as I write my last article, I want to leave you with a few words of wisdom from a graduating senior.
I hope you learn that diversity is a beautiful thing. We frequently hear about diversity on this campus. I’m not just referring to ethnicity, though. I hope you learn to appreciate the guy on the Appalcart with tattoo-covered arms. I hope you learn to appreciate the girl in your history class that solely wears Bob Marley t-shirts and Chacos. I hope you learn to appreciate your roommate whose religious beliefs couldn’t be more different than yours. I hope you learn to appreciate your neighbor who listens to music (a little too loud) that you’re not familiar with. A beautiful thing about the Appalachian family is finding a home here, regardless of how you dress, the food you eat, the sports you play, the religion you believe in, the color on your skin, or the clubs you’re involved in. How boring would this campus be without that diversity?
I hope you learn to be respectful, not just tolerant. It’s one thing to tolerate the people on this campus that are different than you, it’s another thing to respect them for exactly who they are. I hope you can respect people. Whether you call yourself a hippie, a sorority girl or something in between, we’re all just people who want respect. That’s all anyone really wants, right?
I hope you learn to engage people. Take out your headphones and talk to people. It should not be uncommon or uncomfortable to strike up conversation with the person next to you on the Appalcart. Instead of scrolling through Facebook while you’re waiting for class to start, take a minute to get to know your classmates. Disconnect and you might meet some pretty cool people.
I hope you learn to love the mountains. I was born and raised in the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia, so it wasn’t much of an adjustment for me to come to college here. However, I take these beautiful mountains for granted. I hope you take a long drive on the Parkway just because you can. I hope you go hiking with friends. I hope you watch a few sunsets from Rough Ridge. I hope you have pride in these mountains and make the most of your time here. City folk would kill for the views we have.
I hope you learn to network and take advantage of resources on campus that will benefit you in the future. Take it from me: Finding a job is hard. I wish I had make more connections with professors and faculty that could help me find my dream career. We have staff members on this campus from all over the world and chances are good that someone here will be willing to help you get wherever you want to go. Take advantage of the professors in your department, of the Alumni Center, of the Career Center, and any department on campus. It will become much more difficult to network when you’ve left campus… unemployed…. Believe me.
I hope you learn to love King Street. We’ve got a unique downtown area unlike any other college town. Enjoy the local cuisine, wander into the shops you’ve always been curious about, buy a shirt from each of the five million souvenir shops on King Street and try a local beer. It’s easy to forget about things in your own backyard, so take a stroll down King Street while you can.
I hope you learn to be a little selfish and incredibly independent. You are 20 years old. You’ve got the rest of your life to raise kids or report to the boss man every day. Sure, you should be focused in school, but don’t forget to take time for yourself too. Take a road trip. Get a pedicure. Buy yourself something nice. Spend too much money at J.Crew. This is your time, collegiettes. Do what will make you happy and don’t worry about others. If you’ve found your soul mate at age 20, kudos to you—I wish I could say the same. And if not, that’s perfectly ok too! Go out on dates and meet new people. You’ve got plenty of time to meet “the one,” and hey, if you never meet “the one,” then that’s ok, too. You can worry about kids and relationships in 10 years. I know it seems like everyone around you is falling in love and planning a wedding, but really, that’s just a handful of lucky people, so don’t settle just because you think it’s time to settle down. You are a rock star, and every cutie out there deserves to meet you and see how amazing you are.
I hope you learn to be humble. How privileged are we to be able to come to such a great university? And how privileged are we to have so many opportunities in this community to help others? Do something that will open your eyes to what others are going through. Volunteer. Go on an ASE trip. Sign up for a shift at the F.A.R.M. Café. Whoever you are and wherever you came from, it’s likely that someone else has more hardships than you. I hope you become aware of what others have to go through, and I hope that makes you humble and appreciative.
I hope you are thankful for your family. I’m sure many of you are self-sufficient and got to college without any help from anyone. But for a large portion of us, we wouldn’t be here without the moral and financial support of our families. I can’t count the number of times I’ve called my mom for help on an assignment, or the number of times I’ve called my sister crying from stress. And I know I wouldn’t have been able to afford out-of-state tuition without some help from my parents. As much as graduating is a celebration of my accomplishments, I think it’s a time to celebrate my family too. I couldn’t have done it without them.
I hope you learn you’ve got the world in the palm of your hand. No dream is too big and no goal is too far to reach. You’re 20 years old. If there was ever a time to chase your dreams, it’s now. Work hard and believe in yourself and you can do anything.
I hope you learn to take care of yourself. I don’t just mean to do your laundry and get your schoolwork done. I’m referring to your health. You can’t pull all-nighters and eat pizza for every meal for the rest of your life…. You’ve got access to some amazing recreation centers on campus, and you’ve got access to some of the best hiking and biking trails in the country. Take a unique PE class. Go to Zumba once a week. Go swimming at the SRC. Run a 5k. Walk on the Greenway. Just be active. And I love pizza as much as the next collegiette, but learn to expand your palate. Try a kale salad. Learn about artificial ingredients. Drink water instead of soda. Take a nutrition class. You won’t be 20 forever. Take care of your body now and you’ll be thankful in another 20 years.
I hope you do something that makes you uncomfortable. Great things happen outside of your comfort zone. Make new friends. Join a new club. Go to a new place. Get a new job. Some of the best experiences of my college career, like becoming a Resident Assistant and joining a sorority, were the ones I was unsure about or hesitant to try.
I hope you learn that grades aren’t everything. I’ve got a 3.9 cumulative GPA. I’m graduating with Summa Cum Laude honors and I’m being honored as the top academic student in my major this weekend. That’s great and all, and I’m really proud of that, but I missed out on a lot by stressing over insignificant assignments. Sure, I think you should work hard and do your best, but I regret all the fun times I missed out on with my friends because I was studying for a quiz that at the end of the day didn’t even matter. The world won’t end if you bomb a test or get a less than desirable grade on that final paper, but friendships can end. I hope you find a balance of working hard and playing hard too—I wish I had learned how to balance school and my personal life better.
I hope you make a lot of mistakes. No one wants to be wrong, but it’s the situations where you’ve made errors that teach you the best life lessons. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake, embrace it! You’ll learn a lot about yourself by how you handle a slip up and it will make you that much stronger.
I hope you learn a thing or two about managing your money. Sure, be a little frivolous with your funds, but take it from me, you’ll rest a lot easier knowing you’ve got some funds saved up when you start getting emails about how much you owe in student loans…. Life is expensive.
You’ve got four (or maybe more) years of college. I think some of the best pieces of knowledge you’ll walk away with are the things you learned outside of the classroom. Make the most of your time here and learn a lot… You’ll be walking across that stage before you know it.
Thank you, Appalachian.