Ah, Orientation. That mythical once-in-a-lifetime experience where you meet new people, wake up in the bright early hours of the morning and get to do things all day and all night until school starts. My, what a joyous experience! I’m sure all of us can fondly remember those days. The loud music in the halls perfectly set the stage for the day, giving us the energy and motivation to really get to know all these people that we’d be living with for the next year of our lives. 

Oh, what a happy time in our lives. We were still so young and naive, lounging in our rooms at midnight instead of studying and even managing three full meals a day. Herded from location to location, our minds were to be wrought with boredom for the last time in college. Why, there were even some considerations for our physical health! What a time to be alive…

And now, in the fourth week of the year, things have settled into their moving pattern of work and stress and procrastination and the overall exhaustion only befitting a student of such an intense university. All of our complaints of orientation feel like such a distant memory; we only recall the many early mornings. Our selves during orientation may have been different people, the people we were before we being subjected to the rigors of higher education and a party scene to rival Vegas. 

Kick back, relax, sip a drink and reflect for a moment. Remember the first Super of the year, whether you were wobbling around outside or looking out from your window and sighing at those wobbling around outside. The first weekend of the year, where we had our first chance to relax and drip snot since we arrived on campus. Even the first class of the year, the first and last time we would be excited to make it to class.

We’ve been through a lot, whether you’re beginning your first or final school year here. Take a moment to sit back and appreciate the small things in life. Take a moment to, pardon my cliché, smell the roses. You’ve done a good job, whether your grade on the last test was a 14 or a 95, you’ve done better than you could’ve. You’ve put in work, and that counts for something. Thank you for being here and bringing your uniqueness to this campus. Every voice is a part of our shared identity, and no matter what you think of that identity, it belongs to all of us. It is us.