By Brianna Wallen
Editor-in-Chief
It feels like yesterday I was packing up my whole life and loading everything I owned into a car.
Now, three years later, I’m sitting at my desk in Chase Hall, writing this message during my final semester and I can’t help but feel nostalgic. I’m right back where I started, except this time, I’m preparing to leave.
I remember my first week here, when I met my best friend, Juwell Clay and some of my closest friends. At the time, I never could have imagined how many memories, friendships and experiences would come from those first few weeks.
For many of you, you are starting your first semester here, whether you’re a freshman or a transfer student. You might be excited, nervous, overwhelmed or a little bit of everything. My advice to you is simple: capture every moment.
Take risks. Try new things. Go to events, even when you’re not sure if you’ll know anyone. Join the club you’ve been thinking about. Talk to someone new. Say yes to the random plans that come your way. Step outside of your comfort zone.
You never know which random “yes” will turn into a friendship, a favorite memory or a story you’ll still be telling years from now.
When I think about walking across the stage this fall, I know I’m not going to think about the exam I scored badly on. I’m not going to remember every assignment I stressed over or the countless times I slept through my alarm. Instead, I think about the late-night girl talks in Neff 205.
I will think about random car rides with no destination, the spontaneous trips to New York, the laughs that made my stomach hurt.
As I’m writing this, I’m honestly feeling sick to my stomach thinking about how close graduation is. There are so many things I wish I could go back and experience for the first time. That’s why I want you to appreciate where you are right now.
Take pictures with your friends when you’re all dressed up but also take pictures on random Tuesday nights when you’re doing absolutely nothing. Keep all the silly Tok Toks and horrible selfies. My night routine consists of scrolling to the year 2023 in my camera roll and looking back on all the memories.
I know it sounds cliché when people say college goes by fast, but I promise you, it does. One minute you’re meeting your roommate and figuring out where your classes are, and the next, you’re moving out and preparing to walk across a stage.
So, to the freshmen and transfer students reading this, welcome to Southern. I hope you find your people. I hope you find places that feel like
home. I hope you have moments that make you laugh until your stomach hurts and memories you’ll carry long after you leave this campus.
Most of all, I hope you make a life here that you’ll be sad to leave.
Because one day, you’ll be standing where I am now, looking back at these years and realizing just how special they were. And when that day comes, I hope you have a camera roll full of blurry pictures, random videos, screenshots, inside jokes and memories that instantly take you back.
Until then, enjoy it. You only get to be a freshman once.
