Coming into my college years plenty of people were telling me to cherish the next few years because it would fly by. Like most people, I just kind of blew this off thinking the toughest four years were ahead of me. But little did I know, I should’ve listened.
My freshman year went by fast, but to be honest, I didn’t take it as seriously as I should’ve.
I came to college never experiencing so much free time in my life. Going to a Prep school during my high school years I was accustomed to waking up early, driving an hour to school, spending all day in classes and practice, and then back home to do my homework. Before I knew it each night, it was time to go to bed and then wake up to repeat that same routine.
College was a significant change for me in every aspect of life. I went from being booked solid from early morning to late night every day in high school to having as little as two hours worth of classes in a day in college. I had no clue what to do with my life first semester of freshman year.
I learned the hard way that I needed to become more involved to fill in all of this new found free time. So I made a pact to change that moving forward. Freshmen year came and went. I wasn’t a bit prepared to come to the realization that I was moving into my sophomore year.
As I said, I knew I needed to become more involved in life on and off-campus. So I made the monumental decision of joining the Cabrini Men’s Cross Country team. I actually never ran a day of cross country in my life, but I did participate in track in high school, leading me to believe this could be a great way of getting involved.
Little did I know, cross country would be just one of the many things I would get involved with that year. Sophomore year, I also found a way to express a passion that I knew I always had deep down, journalism. As a Digital Communication and Social Media major, I took a full year journalism course. During my sophomore year of journalism, I grew into a leader and into a role I never could’ve imagined myself in, Editor-in-Chief of our school’s new organization, the Loquitur.
Just like freshmen year, sophomore year flew by, but even faster. Getting involved with cross country and Loquitur changed my life for the better that year and has had an impact ever since.
As this current year began, I couldn’t believe that I was more than halfway through my journey as a college student in junior year. The thought of internships and even full-time careers were beginning to become more and more of a reality each day.
Junior year I spent the full year as Loquitur’s Editor-in-Chief. Like most things in the narrative of this piece, I can’t believe that I sit here today writing this and we just published our staff’s final edition of the paper. Like everything else, it truly flew by.
So I think you’ve gotten my point by now. Don’t take college for granted. It WILL fly by.
So when a family member or friend tells you to cherish the next four years because it will go by fast, listen to them. Because in the blink of an eye, the best four years will be coming to a close.
It’s hard to believe that I have a little under two weeks left of my junior year. I am shifting into my senior year as we speak and while I am eager to face the real world ahead, I would never be the person I am today without fully experiencing my four years.