Reality check: you will not be on this campus forever. When you drive up that hill as a wide-eyed first-year taking in the sight of the Gustie jungle and feeling the electric energy of everyone who is so excited to see you, your countdown begins to the day when all you’ve done here compresses itself into a 5” x 8” document that validates your status as a scholar.

Yes, we are here to get an education. We are here to read, to study, and to pass exams by the skin of our teeth. We are supposed to find internships and prepare for the ever-approaching real world.

But sometimes that’s just not what we need to do. We need all-nighters whose sole purpose is watching The Swan Princess and eating Dominos with your favorite person and a delicious beverage. We need to join the ranks of the generations before us by carrying on the tradition of streaking in the arb. We need those nights in the Dive so we can twerk out any and all issues in our lives. We have the next 80 years to be serious and settled in. We have less than four years here; just 1,368 days.

“We need all-nighters whose sole purpose is watching The Swan Princess and eating dominos with your favorite person and a delicious beverage. We need to join the ranks of the generations before us by carrying on the tradition of streaking in the arb.”

Some of the days will be dedicated to reading ungodly amounts of articles that seem unending. Some may begin with you greeting the sunrise over the Florentine horizon.

Some will be spent fully intending to be productive, and are successful…and some, where those well-intended efforts turn into a self-granted day off. There will be weeks spent longing to be back on this hill and urging the summer to end, and there will be days when you’re counting the seconds until you can leave for break, never wanting to return to this campus again.

You will laugh here. You will cry here. You will love here. You will hurt here. You will do things you never conceived yourself to be capable of. You will feel things you never knew a human being could feel. You will find a cause here. You will learn to stand on your own here. There will be nights you wish would last for the rest of your life, and there will be nights where you pray you’ll make it to the morning.

You have heard this phrase a hundred times already, but I want to stress its accuracy; this time goes by so fast. I have spent so much time this month thinking about my favorite memories, and then I realized that those moments didn’t just happen yesterday, they happened 1,095 days ago.

Now, in less than a year, my fellow seniors and I will be departing this hill for the last time. We will be taking with us the memories, the bonds, and the stories.

We are the first generation of the sesquicentennial. We have put our everything into this campus. We have made our mark. I can only hope that in our time here we will have inspired you to live with fire and passion for the things you enjoy and thirst for life; to balance your ability to have fun, but step up and be an effective and respected leader when the situation calls for it.

More importantly, to encourage others to be leaders, and to know when it’s okay to just listen and follow along. If we haven’t brought forth these lessons, we still have eight months to do this. Give us time. We’re dealing with a lot right now.

Your clock is ticking. Don’t spend your time worrying about the seconds that have already passed.

Instead, anticipate the ticks and decide what you will do with them. Stargaze in the arb. Go to the art gallery. Take pictures. Take so many pictures. You will never have these moments again. Capture them so you have something to look back on; something to remind you of the place you loved, and the people who loved you.

This place may be home to the best and worst moments of your life, but it is also your home. You can be yourself here. You are free here. Let your heart be warmed. Let your voice be heard. You are a Gustie. I am honored to share this campus with you.

-Nikki Rom