Despite their efforts to slow down time, DePauw University seniors will be walking across the stage and receiving their degrees in just a few weeks.
Approximately 30 seniors gathered in the Peeler Auditorium Wednesday evening to listen to nine recent DePauw graduates give advice on what to do after the inevitable day-that-shall-not-be named: graduation.
Program Assistant for Career Development and Service Learning for the Hubbard Center for Student Engagement, Sara Scully '13 developed the idea of having a panel of recent graduates to help guide current seniors out of DePauw and into the next phase of their lives.
"I sat down with a few students, and we brainstormed things that seniors might find helpful," Scully said. "It was everything from finding an apartment to making new friends."
The variety of items on the list called for a variety of topics to be discussed at the event.
"We just figured the best way to help students understand what that would be like, when it could be a different experience for every person, was to have a variety of perspectives," Scully said.
The nine panelists included Kacy Wendling, '12, Jonathan Coffin, '06, Nathan Kober, '12, Jennifer Kopecky, '08, Stewart Burns, '13, Jason Seitz, '10, Maggie Cline, '09, Grace Atwater, '10, and Kyle Moore, '11.
In addition, Scully listed DePauw's men's swimming coach Adam Cohen as a panelist in an email Thursday evening, though he was not part of the official panel. Likewise, Scully said, Susane Taylor, '12, had to cancel last-minute.
The panelists' post-DePauw experience contained the variety that Scully was aiming for, in that there was a mixture of current graduate students, lawyers and graduates who are currently working at DePauw, among other professions.
When asked a question, the panelists took turns answering from their different perspectives.
Several pieces of advice consisted of things that most people do not necessarily think about when venturing out into the 'real world' for the first time.
"It's kind of ridiculous to think that I had never paid an electric bill. You're never required to pay a landlord or set up your cable," Seitz said. "Having these discussions, talking to people who have [done these things]...can be really beneficial."
Coffin, assistant to the president and director of strategic communications at DePauw, advised the students not to have their life planned out completely before graduation, because odds are the plan will not stay that way.
"I was hell-bent on going to D.C. I wanted to work in politics. I wanted to work in Republican politics. I'm not a Republican anymore," Coffin said. "Where you think you'll be isn't necessarily where you'll end up, nor is it where you might want to end up."
In addition, he stated what many may find obvious but that he still believed to be vitally important knowledge to the post-graduate adult: work as hard as you possibly can.
"Work your ass off. Whatever your job is, do it really well," Coffin said. "Whatever it is you're doing, be great at it. Be prepared to keep learning."
Kopecky gave advice as to what the students could take advantage of while they are still students here.
"We did not have the alumni gateway, and I wish I would have known back then how great of a tool that would be," she said. "That tool is so valuable. So, so valuable. And we want to help. I mean, we're sitting up here as alums. I would love if someone would connect with me and I could help somehow."
Senior Christine Webster said she has no idea what to expect post-graduation. She explained that, while this panel certainly helped her prepare herself for what is to come, it is impossible to know what to expect until you are in the moment.
"I don't know I think its one of those things that none of us will really understand until we jump in with both feet and kind of start our full time jobs," Webster said. "You can do a million internships, but until you're on for forever...I think it's really hard to fully understand what the real world is really like."
While it may be a scary experience, Coffin assured the students that they will endure and they will survive.
"We all left DePauw, and you will too," Coffin said. "Life will continue."
And even if there are struggles along the way, Kopeky said, students will pick themselves back up and continue on.
"Don't be afraid to fail," she said. "You pick yourself back up, and you go in and your try something new...you're always learning and becoming a better version of yourself."