It’s April. Not just April. The middle of April. As in, two-weeks-until-Senior-Projects-Day April. Oh. Jesus.
Suffice to say we’re starting to feel the pressure and the polite, “How’s your project coming along?” may be met with glares and muttered (or not) swearing. As we approach April 27, I would like to remind non-seniors that the tense reclusive state many of us seniors are experiencing requires patience and understanding.
No friends, we can’t hang out. No Mom and Dad, we aren’t dead or ignoring your calls because we don’t love you. No professors, we aren’t just being lazy or ditching class to play hooky – we’re just more nervous and stressed than we ever imagined we could be. We’ve thrown nutrition and a normal sleep schedule out the window and we spend so much time in the library that they’re going to start charging us rent.
It’s not just Senior Project’s Day either; it’s not as though at five o’clock on April 27, the entire senior class is going to let out a collective sigh of relief. Oh no – we have the rest of our futures to think about.
Jobs, internships, moving and, of course, the dreaded day when we have to start paying back our student loans. I don’t know about everyone else, but dropping out of society and becoming a drifter in South America is starting to sound better and better. I’m two maracas and a tan away of becoming a bandito.
Like a dying person tries to impart some wisdom to the living left behind, I feel like as a graduating senior I want to metaphorically grab any freshmen that will listen and try to leave some advice that will help them in their college journey. “Read the assigned books,” I want to say, “Use the library and the Career Development Center!” I want to share simple things, like the fact that even though it smells weird, spam is actually really delicious.
I want to warn them to avoid setting Aramark cookies on freshly printed homework assignments. I want to tell them to savor all the free stuff that being a student gets you and to attend the events that are organized on campus. I want to tell them that their education is not just a piece of paper that will handed to them to help them get into a job: it is not a single tool that one uses to accomplish one task; instead think of it as a toolbox full of skills collected during your time in college, in or out of the classroom.
But alas. I’m sure that they will have to figure these things out the hard way, the same way I did.
To my peers, I wish you all the best of luck on the 27th or “The Day that Shall Not be Named.” As it approaches, take care of yourself and try to make time to relax. As we prepare to embark upon the next phase of our lives, remember to seize these last few precious days as an undergraduate.
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