Unwarranted Advice from a Fall Graduate

The college experience is different for everyone. For me, the reality of college was nothing like pop culture promised. I never attended a crazy dorm party or cheered at a football game, and I think I met a total of three people whom I genuinely want to stay in contact with after graduation. The social aspect of college just didn’t seem like something I was meant to participate in, and that was fine with me.

The short version of this story is that I couldn’t have been more wrong.

When I started at Hutchinson Community College as a freshman, I had no desire to be included in anything – school clubs, sporting events, etc. My philosophy was “Get your degree and get the F out,” and I intended to stick with that. Juco was just a task on my to-do list, not the “best years of my life” crap that everyone kept telling me.

But my philosophy quickly went into the crapper when a friend (who ended up dropping out that same semester) asked me to join the school newspaper, The Hutchinson Collegian, with her. I was initially going to turn her down, but then I thought about it some more. I have loved to write ever since I was a kid. The Collegian was a good excuse to write something meaningful instead of scribbling half-assed novels in one-subject notebooks like I had been doing for years.

Walking into that newsroom ended up being one of the best decisions I could have made. Not only did I grow as a writer, but I also grew as a person (and I still am). The people I met on staff, the newspaper’s advisor and staff writers, were funny, driven and kind.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still not a people person, but these people were pretty all right. Many of them became more than colleagues with whom I shared a newsroom – they were my friends when I never intended to make new ones in the first place. They were the highlight of my college experience and I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.

And I mean that in every sense. I was in the mental trenches for a long while, and even though I never spoke about it, I could come to class, design a news page, laugh with my friends and forget about it.

So, if I could offer some advice that nobody asked for, it’s this: Nothing is going to work out the way you expected it to, but it is more than OK to roll with the punches. Take a break when you need it – I wouldn’t have met some of the people I did if I hadn’t taken a semester off last year. And for the love of God or whatever you believe in, put your big girl pants on and step out of your comfort zone. The connections you make could impact you greatly. I promise you it’s worth every minute, and that’s coming from a massive hater.

In the end, college isn’t about having everything figured out. It’s about growth and who or whatever helps you do that. It takes time, but everything works out the way it’s supposed to.

Lizzie Kipp is a Hutchinson sophomore studying elementary education. She’s the Collegian’s Campus Editor. You can email Kipp at thehutchinsoncollegian@gmail.com.

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