That’s all, folks. Our last issue of The Weekly is here and in a couple of weeks (please don’t make me look at the countdown again) our time at Gustavus will be over.

We’ll miss all of you (okay, most of you), but like the thou- sands before us, our time has come, and we need to accept that. Our time at Gustavus may be over soon, but our connection to Gustavus will not be.

Not only will we someday return for future Nobel Confer- ences, Christmases in Christ Chapel, and Commencement ceremonies, but we’ll be forever connected to the Gustavus net- work, attending Young Alumni events, Class Reunions and fu- ture mentoring programs.

Now I know y’all probably didn’t pick up The Weekly this morning to get advice from a senior who may or may not be a Nobody (see: Kate Plager’s opinion article). But I’m going to give it anyway.

Hopefully those of you who still have some time will take these words to heart and your experience will be better for it. The rest of you, well, you might at least get a chuckle out of it.

We have an amazing connec- tion to so many brilliant and successful people out in the world and need to utilize that connection. We’ve learned at Gustavus how to utilize contacts in other organizations to achieve mutual success and must continue that habit moving forward.

pend your time in whatever way will best benefit you as a person. If that’s spending ten hours a day studying BioChem in the library, do that. If that’s spending ten hours a day social- izing (wait, I’m an adult now. “Networking”) in the Caf, do that. If that’s sitting on your roommate’s futon eating Cool Ranch Doritos by the hand- ful while watching ten hours of How I Met Your Mother on Netflix and skipping all of your classes, maybe this isn’t the best use of your tuition money, but by all means, do that.

But don’t spend your life withering away in the library if you’re not getting anything out of it. As much as college is about getting a really expensive piece of paper, it’s also about what will benefit you the most. Don’t let your physics friends guilt you into spending all of your time in the library if that isn’t the best use of your time (actually, those Physics kids have found a way to get ridiculous amounts of work done while still playing video games for an excessively large number of hours. I think they’ve figured out some sort of time machine and just aren’t telling us about it.

Thank those who have made the greatest impact on you. Eric Eliason. Kathi Tunheim. Thank you.

Thank your family. The one that took care of you, the Gustavus one, and any others you may have. Thank you.

Don’t limit your learning to the classroom or the text- book. Find time to read for fun, browse the pages of Reddit or treat your extracurricular lead- ership experiences as opportu- nities to learn new information or skills.

Hold the door. Take a picture. Leave your phone in your pocket. Try something new. Have a ridiculously long TV or movie marathon (my record is an entire season of 24, which is actually sixteen hours). Don’t be afraid to do something fun with your friends or to get up on stage. Go out and meet a new friend (I promise you, they’re incredibly awesome at something, see Beth Schmidt’s opinion article). Practice deep listening with your friends. Use your friends to learn cool new things. Take a personal day. Don’t take too many personal days. Actively ensure your per- sonal wellbeing. Answer your emails promptly. Hold the door. Read The Weekly (Disclaimer: I work for The Weekly).

The past four years have been wonderful. I hope yours are wonderful, too. I’ve met great people, and haven’t met some great people (there are still twenty-three days left for that).

College is the experience of a lifetime and when your time comes to leave this place, make sure you’ve enjoyed it to the fullest, and walk across that stage with your head held high.