As the end of the school year approaches, I can’t help but wonder how it flew by so quickly. Where did all the time go? It seems like only yesterday I was unpacking everything in my dorm room and saying goodbye to my parents.

With the year drawing to a close, I stop and reflect back on my experience here. As a sophomore and soon to be junior, I can only think about how much I have changed in my two years at the University.

When I first started as a freshman last year, I was a naïve 18-year-old who knew little about what it would be like to be a college student. Now, as a 20-year-old, I’m well on my way to becoming an adult, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t made a few mistakes along the way.

I still remember my first week of school when I accidentally took the 120W Teal all the way to the Illinois Terminal in an attempt to get to a class. When I reached the terminal, the bus driver turned to me and told me to get off.

Mortified, I climbed off and asked one of the workers at the station how to get back to campus. Luckily, I found another bus back to the class and was even able to take a couple of notes on the lesson.

As I think about that memory from my freshman year, I can’t help but laugh at how stupid of a mistake it was. However, I think I’ve come a long way from that experience. It taught me that in college, I would need to handle situations on my own.

I knew that I could always contact my family if I had any questions about anything, but if I ran into an emergency, my parents are over two hours away and could do little to help.

To every freshman, sophomore, junior or soon-to-be-graduated senior, I recommend that you look back on your time here and reflect on how much you’ve changed.

I’m pretty sure all of us, at some point,  was that naïve freshman who made a stupid mistake.

Many of you may fear you’re still making stupid mistakes, and that’s fine. College is the time to learn and grow and discover who you want to be.

As finals are fast approaching, we might feel super stressed and upset about not getting the perfect grades. But it’s important for us to remember how far each of us has come and what we’ve learned each year from being an Illini.

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