Art by Christine Nelson
I have refrained from mentioning the word “graduation” to any senior since probably November. Obviously, I avoid this word to keep my friends from entering the panic-ridden haze that typically accompanies the dreaded word. I also hate mentioning it because when this year’s seniors go, we juniors are next. There is no more buffer between us and an unknown future. We are forced to face the fact that college doesn’t last forever and all the wonderful and terrifying feelings that come with that truth.
The weird thing about the end of junior year is that we’re close enough to see the “real world,” but we’re too far away to do anything about it. We can think about graduate school, the Peace Corps or companies we’d like to work for, but applications don’t open up for a while. Don’t get me wrong, life after college looks incredibly exciting. It’s this blurry image of unknown opportunities and adventures that seems exhilarating. Our lives are just running full speed ahead toward this, and, at least for me, the image is just getting blurrier.
The beginning of this year seems like an eternity ago. We all came back, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed from a year of adventures abroad or here in Malibu. Our old and new friends were all back in one place, and we had a thousand and one stories to tell and hear. The newness wore off fairly quickly, though, as we all started schedules packed with internships, jobs and upper divs. Our semi-adult responsibilities were a stark contrast from freshman year’s house cup or sophomore year’s explorations. But congratulations, juniors, we are almost done!
Senior year, as daunting as it seems, is going to be great. This is the first year in our Pepperdine careers that we aren’t starting the year practically anew. Half the class isn’t leaving or coming back. We are all here and, contrary to popular belief, we know what we’re doing. Our friends that we’ve made have now become our family. We’ve gotten through three years of Pepperdine, and this final one is going to be a blast. We know what food to avoid in the Caf and how many all-nighters we can pull before we get horribly ill.
There are still new things to explore, too. We have one last chance to do all those Pepperdine things we haven’t gotten around to yet, like hiking to the cross, taking a surf class or actually going to Convo. Though of course this upcoming year will bring new challenges, too, like finding housing, parking or a place to study.
So, dear juniors, we only have one month left until we’re next in line. So get excited and don’t be scared when a little bit of panic starts to set in. Our senior year is going to be fun, challenging and scary, and it’s up to us to love every minute of it.
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