Sometimes enjoying the year ahead can seem hard. With the future prospect of applying to jobs weighing on any senior’s mind, it can sometimes be distracting from the other things that matter. Keeping up with and maintaining a balance between professional, social and academic positioning should be upheld until your last day in the wonderful land of Oswego. While being a senior can mean laying low and partying away, you should also be open to and leave room for growth.

Understand that there will always be room for change and that you are never done learning, even after you leave. Take this final year in stride; remember to have fun, but also make the effort to learn. No person, no matter how long they have been alive, will ever stop growing. The thing about college is that the opportunity to learn and grow is so condensed that we can accomplish things at a faster rate. We can pick up the skills presented around us and take them through the rest of our lives. Take advantage of this.

Start thinking about your future, but don’t leave your past behind. Planning your future can sometimes muddy the waters of what matters now. Continually check in with yourself to make sure you are studying and maintaining the things in your life now. Don’t think that just because your life is going to change in May that you can fade out at the beginning of September. We have an entire year left.  Sure, it will go fast, but ultimately, it will still be a process. There are steps to reaching May and they include some effort. Keeping up with your schoolwork and your friends means maintaining a certain sense of composure that you will appreciate in the end.

Take an elective in something you find interesting or enhance your skills with an internship.  New experiences garner new results and all of these will make you more well-rounded. Becoming involved, even in your final year, can be a positive experience. Take advantage of this experiential time and begin adding to you resume. It is never too late to become active in an organization. If you put in the effort, you will find that you can leave college with real, applicable knowledge.

Do not become so set in your ways that your experiences as a whole don’t begin to feel stagnant in what should be the most pressing, as well as the most uplifting time in your college career. Enjoy your last year here. Enjoy the learning, the friends and the work.