I will shout it at the top of my lungs: “I am a senior!”

But something special about this senior year is that it’s my second one. I am the fifth year, the super-senior, and for once, I don’t care because I am graduating this year!

Too many students put pressure on finishing school in those allotted four years, when really many of our curriculums have way more classes packed in each semester then the average person can handle. Not to mention that with that you have no time to change your major or you are getting a setback. So now we’ve packed in our summers with classes, piled up our fall and spring semester and we still don’t make it on time, because we’ve changed our minds. I am here to tell you it is OK to change your mind and explore a new major, because we have that for the rest of our lives. Some of us use our majors and they are important so it can be a very stressful decision. So to those of you who are freaking out and in your sophomore and junior years, realizing that the major you have is not what you want do to, do not panic. Here is why:

I came to Auburn University to pursue a German in secondary education major. I was advised to do something more practical, so I switched to History in secondary. I realized teaching at that level was not interesting me so I searched for something that did. I ended up in the PR program and enjoyed it very much, but God had other plans for me because I could not get the 82 required on a spelling test for a Journalism class, even though I studied harder than I ever have. (Obviously, spelling Bees were not a thing in my childhood.) While in that program I needed a foreign language, so I took German. I placed so high I could take any class I wanted and man did that give me confidence. I fell in love with my German classes so I changed my major to German and I could not be happier. This is a program I could have finished early if I had started out with it, but that is life and I made a perfect circle and have come to the conclusion that I may want to teach German but at a collegiate level.

I am 22-years-old and I am going to graduate a year late, but I am in love with my major, and for once, I cannot wait for school to start.

Who cares if you are graduating late? I promise you are not alone and there are more people out there taking more time than you think. They say senior year is the best year, and guess what? I got two!

Do not ever be ashamed because you took longer. That does not make you any less smart of a person. I think we get hung up on this expectation that we must finish in 4 years and that’s just how it is supposed to be, but in reality college has become much harder and requires much more from us with the progression of technology and knowledge. So naturally that means it is going to take longer just in general. So to the super seniors out there- be ready to take on your last year or semester. Hold your head up high and embrace it because this is it, we made it!

We get one extra football season, a last hurrah! One more year to live the dream before being spit out into the real world, so the way I see it we’re the lucky ones.