A Letter to First Years from a Senior
As I reflect on my time at St. Lawrence during these final weeks of the semester, I think back about a specific point in my collegiate career where I was at an impasse, and I’d imagine many of you are too. That point is the end of the freshman year. For me, I was barely above the GPA I needed to retain my scholarship, I had no clue what I wanted to major in, and I was very much considering it to all be a mistake, but I assure you, sticking it out is the best choice you can make. Freshman year, I chose the bottle and the nightlife over the academics, many of my textbooks remained shrink-wrapped, and I scraped by…barely. To make a long story short, it is okay to make mistakes, it is okay to not live up to what you assumed your potential to be. The greatest lesson many of you here may learn, even if it is subconsciously, is that college is exactly what you make it to be. If you aren’t sure what to do, I implore you to stick it out, try everything, ask every question, dance like a fool, let a squirrel run off with your mozzarella stick (actually happened, still heartbroken), do everything. Once you’ve exhausted everything, crawled your way back to the top, only then, reassess. I promise that you’ll find that this is exactly where you were meant to be. To quote my grandfather, “We don’t get to pick the cards we’re dealt in life, but it’s up to us to play them”.
So, how do you play the game? Well, first off, school comes first, as boring and “parental” as that sounds, you’re paying to be here, get your money’s worth. Legit try any and every class you feel might be interesting, and you don’t need to succeed; you just need to try your best. “FOMO” is a passing feeling; no party will ever be better than seeing a 4.0 on your grades, trust me, I know personally. Secondly, find a group, it doesn’t have to be who you met the first day, or even the first year, I didn’t meet my solid group until late junior and early senior year, but once you have that, you’re unstoppable. Thirdly, join a club, even if you have the most minor interest in something, go check out a meeting, give it a go, and talk to people. We are a collection of our experiences; get as many as you can. Fourthly, if you are going to drink, make sure you don’t eat the chicken parm at Dana before, it will come back and haunt you, I promise.
And finally, don’t worry about others’ opinions, it is YOUR life, this is YOUR college experience, the only person you’re with 24/7 is yourself, and only how YOU feel at the end is what matters.
In the end, don’t quit, not yet, not until you have exhausted every option you can think of, and by then, I KNOW you will find that this place was always where you were meant to be.
P.S. No matter how quiet you think you’re being in bed, these walls are paper thin, and to everyone who’s ever lived near me, I am so sorry.