Gabrielle Lavan – Opinion Columnist
As we approach midterms and the downswing of the semester, I cannot help but feel reflective and nostalgic about my time on The Hill. I can recall the memory of my first moments on The Hill as clearly as I can remember yesterday. My four years on The Hill have culminated into me feeling like a first-year Gustie every day during the spring of my last semester at Gustavus.
It is my belief that the parallels between being a first-year and being a senior at Gustavus are much greater than being a sophomore or junior. The first and last year of your time as a Gustie are much more special than the second or third for similar reasons. You’re experiencing firsts and lasts that are brimming with emotion.
The first-year experience is celebrating your choice of starting your undergraduate career at Gustavus Adolphus College. You spend an entire summer anxiously awaiting entering a new landscape. During the first few months at Gustavus, you’re vigilant to unveil a special secret path that validates that you are doing the right thing.
Not only are you thrown into the chaotic mix of things that can be new student organization events, speakers, CAB giveaways, etc., you are also trying to not miss a single opportunity to soak in your environment. I remember never saying no to an opportunity where I could possibly win anything for free, regardless of time or talent.
Underlying all of the excitement is the fundamental unsettling feeling of what is next. This exact feeling plagues all seniors who anxiously await their graduation. It appears every time we experience a “last”; when we check our degree audits in preparation for graduation, and when we hear the question that we all hate but are asked every other day, “What are you doing after graduation?”
Your last year’s experience at Gustavus is spent celebrating the seemingly everlasting race to the end of the graduation stage. Thinking about graduation has many seniors clinging to the last moments of their undergraduate experience. The activities that may have seemed a waste of time years ago now become a way to connect with their last few moments of being a current student. First-year students attend these activities as they establish their identities as Gusties, not because they’re grasping at something that soon will be out of reach.
Out of reach might be a strong statement, but entering the ‘real world’ where you’re no longer privy to the glamor of living in a double room in Plex is undoubtedly going to be different from student life. For many, these are the last few months of freedom before being tied down to full-time jobs and paying absurdly high rent.
As we approach the downswing of the year, I think it is important for all Gusties to tap into the first-year enthusiasm that sparkled in our eyes those many months before when we made the pilgrimage to The Hill. Everything looks better when you see it through the eyes of inexperience.