Someone wonderful once said, “Experience is the hardest teacher, for she gives you the test first and the lesson afterwards.” How true that is, my sweet and dear fellow students, how true.

Most of us will look back in reflection of our years at college and not necessarily remember random facts in the never-ending lectures that dominate our expensive time in the classroom, but instead we’ll remember the people and experiences that challenged us to become stronger, wiser and sexier.

If there was ever a time and place that would help you develop character and individuality, that time is here and now in college. And it?s extremely crucial that we focus on the events that happen to us outside the classroom because that’s where we learn most of our lessons in life.

If you look around on campus you’ll see that most students make the mistake by only swimming in their social fishbowl. How can you be considered worldly if you?ve only been exposed to the ideas of the people who usually agree with you or if you only hang out with people who you have a lot in common with?

The answer is you can?t because you’re sheltered into believing a certain way without being forced to look at the other side of things. You?re not going to survive in the real world if you lack the ability to try to understand where other people are coming from. Students cannot become great if they’ve only had wonderful things happen to them. To truly value something or someone, you must go through hell to get it first; otherwise you’ll take it for granted.

If you?ve been recently rejected, dumped or screwed over by the object of your desire, embrace it and use that horrid experience to your advantage. As you’re going through that box of Kleenex or punching a pillow over someone who is unworthy of you, remember how awful you feel now so when you do meet the right person, you?ll hold him or her tighter and be even more grateful that you didn’t settle for what?s-their-name.

Another important area of your life that is detrimental in helping you become an all around incredible person is the kind of courses you take.

You ever notice that the classes that leave an imprint on your mind are the ones that you didn’t get an easy A+ in? There’s a reason for that and it’s based solely on pure frustration and time consumption. Believe it or not you’re in the middle of something great if you leave class thinking, “God I hate this freaking class!”

Unless your professor is a stubborn ingrate, you better count your blessings that you’re in a class that dares you to learn something beyond your comprehension. Seriously who can be proud to survive a class that was easy? A stupid and lazy person, that’s who!

Despite the typical stereotype that tries to define college, this university is more then a whirlwind of Greek parties, football games and binge drinking. Although those are the social activities that are synonymous with college life, let?s focus on the fact that college is really a place where people exchange ideas, dispute opinions and share knowingly glances across the room. Besides it’s these kinds of experiences that we?ll someday muse over and tell our children about.

The priceless knowledge we obtain from college will no doubt contribute to how we look and interact with life outside this campus. And it’s not only what happens to us that are necessarily important, but it’s how we react to such situations that exemplify what kind of person we are.

I don?t know about you but I’m not paying thousands of dollars a year to become somebody who can’t look at herself in the mirror.

So students I implore you to savor the moments here, because before you know it they’ll be gone and then so will you.

Georgette Todd is a Journalism Major and can be contacted by mail at the State Hornet, 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95819, or b email at [email protected].