Third year begins

Beginning third year is an unsettling reminder that we’re that much closer to being adults with responsibilities other than getting to class on time.  By now, nearly all of us are in our early twenties and thinking about more than what’s happening on Friday night.  However, what always brings me back to the innocence of early college life is the nostalgic sight of first years navigating through Grounds on the first day, helplessly furrowing their eyebrows at unfurled maps between classes. 

Why is being a third year so scary?  Well, we’re exactly halfway between our high school graduation and walking down the Lawn to receive our diplomas.  Sure, the transition from high school to college was scary, but at least the destination was certain.  Regardless, it’s hard to appreciate the present when companies are hawking class rings for the third year Ring Ceremony, and people are starting to study for and gripe about their upcoming graduate school entrance exams.

Perhaps it’s our innate, though stubborn, disinclination to accept change.  But is it so awful to perfer ‘hellos’ to ‘good-byes’?

View of the Lawn from New Cabell Hall during my first-year orientation (summer 2008)

(Originally posted Aug. 27, 2010)