As the summer comes to its dreaded end, the days begin to get shorter, the leaves start to their change color, and the crisp cool air pushes it’s way in. It’s so hard to say goodbye to the season where carefree attitude is acceptable, but with the end of summer fun comes the beginning of a new and exciting adventure: senior year of college. Ah yes! Senior year, the last thing that stands between you and the real world. Two semesters of classes, a small number of credits and requirements expected to be met, and two dreaded weeks of finals before you bid farewell to all that you’ve known and have gotten so comfortable with for the past four years. I must confess, as I sit in my freshly moved in college dorm room and begin to realize this is the last go at the notorious college move-in day, I can’t help but feel a wide range of emotions.

Excitement, for my fellow classmates and I are the big guns on campus. We are at the very top of the chain, the eldest of the undergrads, the veterans of our college. There are so many exciting things and fun events that are jam-packed into these nine months that lie ahead of us. Senior legacy, plenty of bar trips, homecoming events, halloweek, spring concert, senior wine and cheese, and many more. I am excited to do everything and anything that college has saved for last and to celebrate this huge milestone reached in our lives.

I must confess a feeling of sadness, but only a little. For it’s the last time I am going to do a lot of the things I have come to enjoy. The year holds the last time I will walk onto the fresh fall campus, the last time I will be playing the sport I love, the last time moving into my college dorm room, the last time I will right next door to some of my best friends, and unfortunately, the last time I will see most of these people that make up my school and even class. I feel some sorrow for the thought of not being able to see my friends and roommates everyday, but also the thought of whether or not we will still be friends. I am left to sadly wonder how often will I see the people I hold dear to my heart as we go our separate ways and on our different paths that life has paved for each of us.

I confess I feel some nerves. My mind races as I ask a wide range of questions. Can I reach the end? Will I be able to acquire a job when I get out of college? Will I like the field I am in as much as I think? Will I be able to handle the scariness of budgeting, saving, and big people responsibilities? The phrase “it’s all down hill from here” is used way too often, how much better does it get? Do I know enough? Am I prepared? Am I ready, or better yet, can I do it?

I feel a sense of eagerness and anxiousness, to finish out my final year. Eager to get through all the work, the assignments, the exams, and the stress. Anxious to avoid the contagious and fatal, senioritis at all costs. Eager to become successful and all that I have hoped to be.

Lastly, I confess strong feelings of happiness, pride, and gratitude. I am proud of all that I have accomplished and achieved thus far in my twenty-one years of life. Grateful for the lessons learned and experience gained. Fortunate that I was able to continue my education after high school. Happy for all the friends and life long relationships I have built over the past four years spent on my college campus. And satisfied with the person I have become and the person I am still striving to be.

With all this, I have only one thing left to say…do everything, go to everything, enjoy the final months you have left in college. Leave with no regrets, have all the fun you can, (but still remember eyes on the prize aka the degree) and be selfish because you only get to do it all once. Bring on senior year of college and make it your best year in college. Good Luck!