The phrase, “Man, if I could go back to freshman year…” gets uttered a lot in early May. It’s probably because the final days of college are similar to the first days. Exciting, yet frightening. Surreal, yet fun.
But when I first walked into Witte Hall I was much less prepared for what I would face in college than I am now, as I enter this supposed real world. I have two reasons for that: my liberal arts education from the University of Wisconsin and my time as editor-in-chief of this newspaper.
So, before I leave Madison, allow me to offer a few pieces of advice to those remaining on campus. They’re entirely unrelated, so I apologize for taking the easy way out and numbering them.
1) Take everything with a grain of salt. And I mean everything. Nothing in life is black and white; nothing is as good or as bad as somebody makes it out to be. Extremism is the root of the world’s problems, and when you subscribe to one ideology (such as pro-choice, Zionism or environmentalism) without taking into consideration the merits of the opposite ideology, you’re further contributing to the world’s problems.
2) The things that unite us are far greater than those that divide us. This is something Americans talked about a lot in the wake of January’s shooting in Tucson, but it’s worth mentioning again. If there is one thing history has taught us it’s that mankind gets better at resolving the issues that divide us, and we should have no reason to believe that won’t continue.
3) Spend multiple summers in Madison. I could not envision a better place to spend a summer. Live on the lake, too, if you can. Some of my best memories of college involve grilling and drinking a beer while watching the sunset over Lake Mendota.
4) Don’t hold grudges. Life is too short to hold unnecessary anger.
5) Take road trips. Lots of them. There are not many points in your life in which you’ll have the energy to leave Springfield, Mo., at 9 p.m. and drive straight through the night to Albuquerque, N.M., arriving at 9 a.m. (something I did on my own en route to Pasadena). Find a car, find people you would want to spend 40 hours with in said car, and go.
6) Get involved in one major organization on campus. It doesn’t have to be a leadership role, but there are too many opportunities to simply go through college by taking classes and working. As clich? as it sounds, do your best to give something back to the campus that has given you so much.
In closing, I’d be remiss if I didn’t take the time to thank my colleagues here at the Herald. They are truly an amazing group of the brightest, funniest, nicest people on this campus, and I am eternally grateful that I have had the opportunity to lead them.
On Wisconsin!
Kevin Bargnes is graduating with a B.A. in journalism and mass communication. He loves sentiment and giving cliche advice. He’s traveling in Eastern Europe with fellow Heralder Kyle Mianulli, teaching college students how to start their own online newspaper, then moving to his birthplace of Buffalo, N.Y., to report for a newspaper. Catch up with him at [email protected].
