By Nicolas Lucente, Multiplatform Journalism major, D.U.Quark Intern
As we enter the month of April, seniors are only one month away from graduation. As graduation approaches, the main goal seems to be wrapping up classes efficiently and properly while also focussing on one’s future; something none of us have ever had to really do. Getting into college is one thing, but finding a job and beginning a career is another.
However, through all of the stress and the pressure, I still feel like it is important to appreciate the little things. When I say the little things, I mean the things that you will never get back. Who knows who we will talk to down the road and how what we learned in the last four years will actually help us in the real world, but besides doing the necessary things to take that next step, appreciating what we still have is important.
With only a month left to go for seniors, some of us only having a month left to go in Pittsburgh as well, I would argue that maintaining friendships and connections with people we’ve met in our time here is just as important as taking that next step. Life is going to become complicated once we leave Duquesne. College, in general, kind of feels like a governing body before we have to abide by a real government and follow adulthood rules. That may sound like a stretch, but if you think about it, it makes sense. However, university rules are much more forgiving than real life and understanding that is important.
I have not entered the true adult world yet even if I think I have, but because of that fact, I can look back at my time at Duquesne and truly appreciate everything that I have been able to do here. Coronavirus definitely limited the “college experience” in a way, but when the virus hit originally I never went home. I stayed in my house in Pittsburgh with my friends and we went through it together back in the spring of 2020. Would I have been able to be cooped up with my family at home during that time, yes of course. However, being with friends that I had grown close with throughout my time at Duquesne was an experience that I will treasure.
My point is to not forget the connections made throughout college. I don’t know who is reading this or who needs to be reading this, but what you learn, who you meet and the connections you make in college can be the foundation of one’s adulthood post-college. I haven’t graduated yet, so I may just be hopeful when I say all of this. All I really hope for is that everything I have experienced in college was not just for a degree and for something more than that.
Building Bridges 