Twenty-Five Reflections from College

May is here, and at Azusa Pacific it means that spring commencement has arrived. In higher education, this is what we live for! We get to watch hundreds of students donning caps and gowns, celebrating the end of one journey and the beginning of another.

As I think about our graduates and about my own journey, I cannot help but reflect on what it took to make it. So, I offer these 25 reflections from college.

1. Keep your pencil sharpened.
2. Coffee is an absolute necessity.
3. Few worthwhile objectives are easy. Don’t be discouraged when things get tough!
4. The “freshman fifteen” are real. Beware!
5. Get to know your classmates–you never know when you’re going to need someone else’s lecture notes. And it enriches the journey.
6. Don’t be afraid to change majors.
7. The sleep will be sounder and sweeter once you graduate.
8. Get help from an advisor. Taking the wrong classes will cost time and money.
9. The hard work you put into this will take you places…just not always the places you expected.
10. Read aloud when making final edits to written work.
11. What takes an hour to complete before 8pm takes two hours to complete after 12am.
12. Study on the grass.
13. Attend at least one college sporting event.
14. Passing by the skin of your teeth is still passing.
15. Try new things. The same opportunities may not be available later.
16. Bring an eraser. You’re going to make mistakes.
17. Read every book differently, remembering that some are meant to be acquaintances while others will become good friends.
18. Take the harder class, even if it could hurt your GPA.
19. Visit the professor during office hours.
20. Study abroad, and let international travel broaden your perspective.
21. Don’t let your new freedoms get the best of you.
22. Get to know alumni from your college program–they are invaluable resources.
23. Find a comfortable place to study and return there often.
24. Dream big.
25. For every student who walks across the stage, there are family or friends who sacrificed. None of us makes it alone.

Dr. Drake Levasheff is Senior Director of Azusa Pacific University’s Murrieta Regional Campus. He can be reached via email at dlevasheff@apu.edu.