Abigail Reese ‘25, Staff Writer
For those of you who do not know me, my name is Abby and I am a freshman psychology student. Although some of my closest friends call me “cookie girl”, I like to think of myself as a writer as well. So, here it goes: my homage to our freshman year.
There is nothing I wanted to do more than move onto campus all of summer 2021. Although I was sad about summer coming to an end, it also marked a time of new beginnings. It was much like losing the original club penguin; a sort of bittersweet symbol of growing out of our childhood and into adulthood. We knew it was happening, just had no idea how quickly the time would come.
Image Source (2): soundcloud.com
No matter how scary, it is important to acknowledge that this new chapter will shape the rest of our lives; and although college’s very premise is to get you to think about the future, it is also important to live in the moment. This notion will always stand.
From every time I cried myself to sleep at night to the up all nights, I was reminded of that very thing. I knew that my biggest regret would be if I did not take advantage of my time. College is the time of our lives; a time to truly discover ourselves and the world around us. We are growing everyday into the people we are meant to be, and will continue to do so even after we graduate. If you think that you missed out this year or wasted your time, think again. Class of 2025, let me remind you of some of the things we did this year:
- We planted our ivy at the grotto and did a community service project together at orientation.
- We had some big wins and some losses too, but we are a team nonetheless and our spirit is unmatched.
- We were really loud past quiet hours on weekdays, like racing down the halls at 2am loud. Maybe next year we can all sleep peacefully.
- We finally got to see each others’ faces as the school lifted the mask mandate. It’s nice to see our smiles again.
- We laughed a lot, we cried a lot. This will probably still happen next year too, but freshman year is hard for all of us in many different ways. At the end of the day, we are always here for eachother, and that’s what matters.
- We completed assignments way too close to the time it was due way too many times. Time management is not our biggest strong suit.
- We showed up to class late and sometimes not at all, making up excuses as to why we could not attend (for legal reasons I have not done this or thought about doing this ever). Hopefully we can get better at this next year.
- We learned that some of us cannot study even if our GPA depends on it (myself included). We can always sign up for study tip sessions… but probably won’t.
- We stressed over course registration. I do not think there was another event on campus that caused that much strife for the class of 2025. Except maybe housing selection this Sunday. If you had no idea what you were going to do when you got up there, neither did I. I hope it worked out for all of us.
- Lastly, we all grew together. If you think nothing has changed since you arrived here, you are incredibly mistaken. We learned things outside the classroom that will be valuable in future relationships. We learned what we like and don’t like about the lives we are creating for ourselves. We learned that we have the freedom to prioritize our happiness in our endeavors. Some of us got the short end of the stick this year, and I want you to know that it is okay. Because it is going to get better. Freshman year is only the beginning, and if you have hit rock bottom, you have nowhere to go but up.
I don’t know about you, but I would not exchange what happened this year for anything. I learned that time is so valuable, and it is fleeting at every passing moment. I just hope everything learns to slow down, but I’ve heard it never does. If you are to take anything out of this article, I hope that you start to take advantage of every day you have. Like Khalid says, “never again are you going to be this young, this dumb, and this broke.” Have fun while you can, class of 2025. I hope you have the best summer of your lives, even better than the last. And with that:
A final farewell,
The closing of the book that we call our freshman year.
Waddle on.
See you in the fall.
