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251 days. 14 hours. 39 minutes. 45 seconds.<\/em> That\u2019s how long I get to call all of you my peers. <\/span><\/p>\n A lifetime.<\/em> That\u2019s how long I can call all of you my friends. <\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m writing this to my class, the Class of 2018, because I think that there\u2019s a serious problem we need to address. Everyone\u2019s so wound up about college, and we\u2019re slowly forgetting to take time for the smallest joys in our lives. So please – I know that you\u2019re reading this article as a \u201c5-minute break\u201d before you go off to write your college essays\/attend 7 executive club board meetings\/meet with your CAC\/eat a sad nutrition-less meal while you google scholarships – but please just give me the full 5 minutes. <\/span><\/p>\n I care about you all. More than I care about college. (And trust me, I care about college a lot). <\/span>But, we, as a class, need to go back to the simpler things because we\u2019re all so stressed 24\/7. <\/span>I have asked around and gotten valuable advice from 50 alumni of the Class of 2017 (including some that I never talked to – never underestimate an IMSA bond), and they are bea<\/span>utiful people who didn\u2019t mind taking out a decent chunk of their time to respond to my text. Many of you saw the Back to School Edition<\/a> where some of the highlights were included, but you can get every single piece of advice I received here.<\/a><\/p>\n Essentially, I got two responses: <\/span><\/p>\n (Of course, they were a lot more articulate and specific, but I know that your \u201c5-minute\u201d break can only stretch out for so long.) <\/span><\/p>\n And my primary conclusion from reading all of their long responses? We should all spend time doing the stuff that we like – whatever that is.<\/strong> This could be going on walk ‘n’ talks, participating in culture shows, competing in League tournaments, or pouring your heart and soul into your extracurriculars. The possibilities are endless. We have 251 days left before we move out of campus, 251 days left of living together. After 251 days we\u2019re done, and if even on Day 252 we decide that we all want to live together again and recreate the conditions that we had, we can\u2019t. <\/span><\/p>\n Sure, you might say, we can come back. But when will all 195 of us be together again – playing ultimate frisbee on Yare, going on long walks on Access Road, dancing in the student union, napping past rolling check? Maybe our reunion in 11 years. I don\u2019t want to wait that long for us to live a little together. <\/span><\/p>\n I’d also advocate for talking to one more person each day<\/strong>. It doesn\u2019t have to be a completely new person you\u2019ve never spoken to before, but perhaps that person who sat across from you in SI Physics that you never really got to know, or the person that you\u2019ve had a friend-crush on for as long as you can remember? Just one new person, that\u2019s all I ask.<\/span><\/p>\n I did it. I was sitting with a friend in Sodexo, and a simple conversation about our days sparked the idea of going in a Homecoming group with our friends. It was pretty straight-forward: we would both bring 5 friends, each. Then the number continued to grow, and I\u2019m honestly so glad that it did. I was a little frustrated in the beginning because 1) trust me, this was the definition of awkward, and 2) it seemed like there were only 2 of us talking in the group chat.<\/p>\n But now, for our nicknames, we’ve ended up flipping the first letters of our actual first and last names. The group chat is also titled \u201cthe day before uiuc apps are due.” And I was scared to just go for it, talking to new people, but now that I have, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever been so excited for an IMSA Homecoming. Point is, you\u2019ll be surprised how much of a positive difference a small amount of effort can make, so make sure you give everything a shot.<\/p>\n So, Class of 2018, while we may still feel like the new sophomores (no SSS yet!), it\u2019s time to accept the fact that we are the seniors.<\/strong> We will be the ones to win the Homecoming Pep Rally – statistically, and hopefully. We will be the ones to go to prom. We will be the ones saying \u201cSee you later\u201d<\/em> to each other on June 2 at 2:00 pm. Please, make the most of your time here. You will never be with all these people again in the same atmosphere of stress IMSA provides. Make up with people from petty grudges. Try new clubs and hobbies. Take the classes that actually intrigue you. Say “hi” to everyone you see. These small things could truly make the difference in your senior year. <\/span><\/p>\n Think of all of the stressed IMSA seniors before us. Th<\/span>ey all got in somewhere and are on their way to doing big things, and now it\u2019s your turn. I believe in you, Class of 2018. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 251 days. 14 hours. 39 minutes. 45 seconds. That\u2019s how long I get to call all of you my peers. A lifetime. That\u2019s how long…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":356,"featured_media":18692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2734],"class_list":["post-18596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/356"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18596"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18701,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18596\/revisions\/18701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18596"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=18596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/files\/2017\/09\/14875137_1116670218409235_1730994603_n-300x225.jpg\")
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