I cherish every moment in college, every joke, every peer homework complaint is cataloged. I have seen the future, a nine to five job. I am a student who will graduate at an age older than most of my peers. While I attended college and worked both part-time and full-time jobs, I have reached an epiphany; I may never find a job that is as fun as being a college student.
College students spend four years and sometimes even more visiting a campus almost daily, attending class and interacting with people their own age. There is beauty to being around thousands of people of the same age.
All students are here for the same reason and await graduation day with fear and anticipation for it is unknown what awaits after the cap is thrown in the air. Sharing fears, hopes and dreams with thousands of people is special because all share the college experience.
Stressing over a test, writing an assignment an hour before it is due and running into a professor after missing their class earlier in the day is part of the college experience.
Many times I sit in class, look around and smile. I walk through campus and knowingly look stupid with a grin on my face, yet I am appreciating every aspect of college life.
I have taken multiple walks to Circle K with people I will remember for the rest of my life. I have been intimidated and later blessed with knowledge by educators and staff who made me see a problem through different eyes.
Crude and vulgar comments will never again be encouraged and accepted by those who will replace professors and fellow college students. The friend who tells me about their dorm room sexual encounters will be replaced by the office weirdo.
The sorority girls who gossiped and told me dramatic stories will be replaced by unwanted office invitations to happy hour at the local Applebee’s or Chili’s. The entertaining classmate who tells random stories about cats will be substituted by a co-worker who tells cat stories that lack entertainment. Working in an office is nothing like the television show “The Office.”
It will never be possible to replicate the college experience. Living in an apartment will never be like living at Vista La Verne or Brandt Hall. The convenience of looking to the activity board to see what’s happening on campus must be replaced by actual effort to become involved in society. Like after high school graduation, friends will drift apart and few will retain constant communication.
Some friends will have babies, others will move across the country or to the other side of the world. The girl you wished you had asked out is now far far away. I suggest people speak their mind and do what they want while in college. After graduation some things might be out of reach.
Although fearful and a bit cynical I remain optimistic that my college degree will serve to prove my expectations wrong. I hope to have a job and career that I will deeply enjoy and meet people whose company I will appreciate as much as my college peers.
Effort is demanded from life and society to remain entertained and engaged with society. A college campus will soon be replaced by entire neighborhoods or cities.
I will continue to appreciate every moment until graduation and would encourage all college students to do the same.
Brian Velez, a senior communications major, is LV Life editor of the Campus Times. He can be reached by email at brian.velez@laverne.edu.
