Last year I imagined I would always be the girl wearing the “College” T-shirt and signing on for a 16th semester because I could not get enough of this place. I used to believe this single place could hold my heart forever. I thought I would never be ready to leave college because there would always be something new to learn.
College has taught me a great deal about friendships, loss, love and beauty. Growth. Dreams. Setting my mind to something and seeing it done. College has taught me about satisfaction and complacency, of soul searching and realizing what I am made of. As I eagerly awaited even more life lessons at the beginning of this semester only one in particular has seemed to come around, being as obnoxious and loud as a Jersey Shore cast member: I am ready to not be here anymore. Is that bad? Is that horrible? Am I getting sick with something worse than the Swine? I am here, at a school that has blessed me with this person I am so proud to be today, but I know I am letting it go. Slowly And Surely My Hands Are Loosening Their Grip And I Am Beginning To Look Towards A New Chapter.

116 days. That is all that remains. The internships are over. The seminars have passed. The leadership positions still exist but for some reason they don’t feel as pressing this semester. I don’t necessarily feel like I need to be here anymore but the point is that I am here. I have 116 days left and I intend to make them as beautiful as the three and a half years that have come and gone.

So what can I do to “carpe diem” if you will? Here is the start of a beautiful bucket list: Make time. Go to school sponsored events where my presence is not mandatory. Give the meaning back to the “weekend” and allow myself to lounge, relax and take a break. Be spontaneous, anywhere and everywhere. Realize that it really is not the end of the world if I don’t score an A on a paper. Give everyone a chance. Find moments to laugh for no particular reason. Talk to strangers on this campus. Realize that people trump obligations, always. Dance in random places. Go out even when I know I shouldn’t. Leave some kind of legacy behind.

The last one is important. No matter where we are– college, grad school, the work world– we should be seeking to leave some kind of legacy behind. How do we want to be remembered in this place? What would we like people to say about us when your name enters into a conversation? If we could be described with one word, what word would we want that to be?

So I will continue to sculpt a legacy in this final semester. If I could be granted one sentence about my character, one that I would want to be remembered by I think it would be this: She was a girl who had a big heart and she chose to use all of it.

That seems simple. I can work with that. I can turn that into my legacy here, of this I am certain.

If you could only be granted one sentence that would slip out of the mouths of others, one sentence to describe you as a person, what would you want it to be?