In 2016, I made the almost three hour journey from Denver to Laramie for a high school competition. UW wasn’t even on my list of schools at the time, but that all changed the moment I stepped off the bus.
It was a mild day in October, which was probably a doozy, considering we rarely have those, but I was automatically in love with the campus atmosphere.
As soon as that competition ended, I begged my parents to stay in town another night. At the hotel, I filled out the application and never even bothered looking at a different school.
Now, here I am about to graduate.
Even with everything in between, I will never regret following that instant intuition that this is where I belonged. UW is more than just a college, and Laramie will always have a soft spot in my heart which is why I’ve chosen to stay for awhile.
These past four years have brought me to many crossroads, and have put me through all the trials and tribulations of college. But I’ve come out on the bright side, ready to give advice to any who will listen, and take advice from any who will give.
So, dear incoming freshmen here is what I can give you.
First, we all think we’re invincible at 18. As much as I hate saying it, it’s not true. I promise the sooner you accept the help that is given to you, the better it will be. Asking for help and taking advice, admitting your weaknesses, is not a bad thing. It’s a strength, and the only thing that might help you reach invincibility at some point.
Second, go to class. Take it from someone who hated going and then was forced into only online classes. I missed it this past year. I missed everything from watching the cloud of chalk dust when a professor clapped their hands together, to awkwardly asking someone to move from my “unassigned assigned seat” I had been sitting in for the past month.
Third, make friends or at least be open to people trying to make you their friend. This was the biggest challenge for me but the people I finally did meet have turned out to be some of the best people I know and now I get to watch them graduate too.
Four, a couple things you need to know. Crowbar has the best pizza in town. The Beer Song is the real UW song you need to know. Always go to the football games, and always wear the colors that are picked for that game unless you want to be that one person in yellow messing up the White Out.
Most of these pieces of advice are probably things you will hear from your parents, which means you won’t listen (because we never listen at 18). But I hope one day you will, because I wish I would have listened from the beginning.
On that note, Class of 2021, congratulations. We finally did it, we’re finally going to flip that tassel.
These past four years, especially the past few semesters, have been some of the toughest of our lives. They have also been the most fun.
Here’s too many more football games, renditions of the Beer Song, Crowbar pizzas, and brown and gold t-shirts. Now, instead of students, we’ll just be alumni.
