You’re about to begin your last year of college — the last year you can call yourself an undergraduate and, for many of you, the last year you could call yourself a student, period. It’ll be the last year you will be surrounded by so many of your peers, all in one place, and have something huge in common: The identity of being a Duck. It’s the last year you’ll be scheduling your classes, seeing Frog as you head to Caspian’s every day, spending night after night at the library.
Thinking about this, the emotions you experience are probably mixed: nostalgia, excitement, an unnerving sense of unpredictability. But at the base of that whirlpool is the thought “what now?” What will this year mean in terms of my college experience, and what will I do besides think about what I have to do after?
If I have one piece of advice, it would be this: Don’t take this year lightly. Remember “senioritis?” That term everyone used back in high school to describe the seniors who mentally “checked out” before they graduated? Yes? Well, don’t do that. Don’t “check out” and hang out in your bedroom watching Netflix all day. It’s tempting, of course. You’re about to leave Eugene (presumably) so what does it matter what you do this year?
To put it bluntly: It does matter. Pardon the cliche, but you need to make the most out of that last year. It’s yours to make of it what you will. This doesn’t just mean party every weekend (though it could mean that, too). It means expanding your horizons as much as you can in the town that inspired you the most. You made friends. You lost some friends. You tried new things. You failed at others. Do more than you have before.
Travel. And by that, I mean go outside of the bubble. I’m sure you’ve heard of it: It’s the invisible dome-like force field that keeps you within the confines of campus and its surrounding blocks. A friend of mine, her senior year, admitted that she had never been to downtown Eugene. It had to have been one of the saddest things I’ve ever heard. Check out the shops and bars and restaurants downtown. Head to the quirky, quintessentially Eugene Whiteaker neighborhood. Go to Hendricks Park and enjoy the sunshine (or rain). Do anything but stay within the confines of campus. Do you really want to look back and only see images of Max’s and Espresso Roma?
Even if you refuse to do that, do this: travel mentally. Expand your intellect so you can really change the world when you leave. Try out a campus group. Maybe you’ve always been interested in writing fiction? Maybe you’re interested in activism? In feminism? In the environment? Meet new friends and expand those interests with campus groups and classes. Check out the ASUO’s website. Check out the many publications we have on campus. Try that class that you’ve always been interested in taking.
If I have one piece of advice for you as you begin your last year at the University of Oregon it’s this: It’s not too late. It never is.