To Gage and Callan,

What a time to be alive! This past year has been fascinating and complex with crucial experiences and points of learning for myself.

I am sitting in my dorm room, fresh to college, with a mound of homework and what feels like light-years to graduation. It has been enriching in its lows and a hell of a lot of fun in its highs. I've found friends and groups of contemporaries who share a love for what I do. I am writing to you as a voice for your ears as you'll be in my shoes one day.

Friends and Relationships:

Now is the time to be picky! Don't let this scare you or have you hole up in your room. To clarify, college will expose you to diversity and diversity and (yes!) more diversity. A door will be opened for you to experience an entirely different world from your high school social and hierarchical structures. Be picky in finding true people. Build a constituency of friends and peers who share your values. When the flood gates of university life open in August, it'll seem like everyone will be your friend. Friends for life and an eternity of sharing and caring. You'll be bombarded with texts and your contacts page will quickly become filled. The collegiate ocean will be trying to fit itself into the cup of your social circle. It'll be exciting and confusing and all things new for a good three weeks. Classes will begin and then majors become communities and the once bustling commons will simmer down. You'll see division occur within peer groups and in the ever-evolving social strata. You may wonder why and it is not something that I can answer. People will be changing more than ever before and unlike their spurts and physical changes in high school, they'll be pursuing new interests and experiences they find valuable. The exciting, energetic boil you once felt during move-in week will become hushed to the din of life carrying on.

My peers have differences in opinion and my best friends like different foods. These seem small in significance but they'll determine the course of your academic and social trajectory over the next four years. People will eat together and then less and less. Your gym buddy may not feel like going that one day. And you'll just reschedule but maybe they'll be busy or they'll have a project. Although it seems you're closer with your friends and it'll be convenient to live by them or even with them, sometimes it won't matter. Seek honesty and strength. It'll be people who you're magnetically drawn to and when you find them hold on tight. People come and go and it can sometimes be a battle of priorities. You must remember to always reflect upon what you want and how you feel in a relationship so as not to become engulfed in a sea too deep to stand.

You will find these magical, balanced relationships because, as the groups funnel through the avenues of college life, those who gather into the pool of your close-knit circle will have lasting impacts on your experience at university.

I love you with all my heart,

Vaughan

P.S. I hope no one's moved into my room yet.