It seems like just yesterday that we were the young, wide-eyed newbies exploring our newly acquired freedoms and using the campus as our playground to meet new people and get involved in as many activities as possible.
Those days, of ‘dorm jumping' and mentor meetings were truly days that were more profound to our college experience than we could have ever imagined. Now, our wine comes from finer kegs, and we know the campus like the backs of our hands.
Sure, we wanted to go to greek houses and maybe even slipped up and broke the rule for when we were allowed on the property.
We also rolled our eyes at some of the activities our mentors made us do with a complete group of strangers, and smiled as we looked at upperclassmen living the dream with their Greek letters and group of friends. We had no idea that the time we spent in the dorms and with our assigned mentor group of ‘friends' was a valuable part of our college experience.
It was.
The time in the dorms is unlike any other time during college — when you are thrown into a group of people and have to make the best of your situation. It was a time when we made some of the best friends we have here at DePauw, and would never have ordinarily gotten to know.
The mentor group is a way to see people in a similar situation, and to come together. It was magnificent.
Freshmen, don't think the grass is that much greener on the other side of the Oct. 1 deadline. Spend time enjoying the field you get to play on, because it is unlike anything else you will ever experience. Hall slides in the basement of Lucy and getting lost in the maze that is Hogate — those experiences, though seemingly insignificant at the time, will be remembered for the rest of your lives.
As you return to campus your sophomore year, you will inevitably find your friends scattered about campus. Those people with whom you grew so close will not all be just a door away. Surely some of you will end up in the same houses or apartments, but it will not be the same. The more time that you spend with other freshmen now, engaging in tomfoolery in the dorms, the more likely you will stay friends with these people in the years to come.
Before you know it, a much needed fall break will be here. However, you'll quickly realize that a week away from DePauw is quite a long time. You'll want to be back with your friends. Students at other universities find themselves dreading the end of a break, but DePauw students often feel that the return to DePauw cannot come soon enough.
The closer you become with your own class, the more you will enjoy the rest of your time on these hallowed grounds.
— Burns is a junior from West Lafayette, Ind., majoring in political science.
— Kirkpatrick is a junior from Overland Park, Kan., majoring in political science.
opinion@thedepauw.com
