Dear Miss Red,
I’m getting ready to graduate and I feel TERRIFIED! I know l’m gonna miss a lot about WKU: my friends, the community l’ve built here, my professors, and the beautiful campus. How can I maximize the last few weeks of my college experience?
– An Anxious Academic
Dearest Anxious Academic,
Oh-em-goodness honey, congrats on graduating! It’s such an amazing accomplishment, and that in itself should be celebrated.
I see your concerns. You’re about to enter a time of uncertainty and change. Unfortunately, the real world isn’t quite like WKU. Probably less hills. We can only hope.
Either way, I won’t sugarcoat it — there’s a lot here for you to miss about your life at college, and though you’re about to enter the next exciting phase of your life, it still sucks to lose what you’re losing.
So, let’s maximize the time you have left.
First off: your friends and your community. They’re perhaps the best aspects of college. It’s obvious to say, but spend as much time with them as you can!
Plan fun events, fun outings. My favorite is to scroll on Pinterest for ideas (and trust, my Pinterest boards are fire).
You can host a themed dinner party, have a fun picnic on South Lawn, or hike at Lost River Cave. Did you know that Lost River Cave has a butterfly habitat? Maybe that’s something to check out with your friends!
With the weather warming up, there’s so much to do and experience outside, especially if you’ve got friends to join you.
Surround yourself with your people while you still have them, and hold on tight.
May I suggest buying a digital camera? It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, I’ve used this one from Amazon and it works perfectly.
Something about capturing these precious memories on a camera instead of your phone is just so special. Trust me, you’ll want plenty of pictures of you and your friends to look back on someday.
Next: campus. Oh, how I love our campus, and I’m sure you’ll miss what’s been your home for the past four years. So I suggest you take some time with it by yourself.
Put in your earbuds, and walk when you’d normally take a bus. Visit your favorite study spot and reflect on how it’s guided you through your past four years. Go to Spencer’s and spend an hour listening to music and people watching.
Whatever about campus may be your favorite, take time to put your phone away and just soak in its beauty and all the memories.
Finally: your professors. Not to totally state the obvious, but just go talk to them! Visit their office hours, and talk to them about real things, not only things that are school-related.
If you’re close enough, ask if there are ways you can stay in contact after graduation. If you’ve found a mentor through WKU, you don’t want to lose them.
Truly, what you do with your time here is up to you. Whatever it is, just seize the moments you have left here and embrace those around you with so much love.
College is such a strange period between being a child and being an adult, and soon you’ll finally be out of it. So spend these last few weeks as an “in-between” doing things only the “in-betweens” can get away with.
I’ll let you infer what that means babe.
All in all, I really hope these last few weeks are filled with so much joy for you — and so few final exams. Ugh.
XOXO
Miss Red
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