As another school year comes to a close, recent graduates reflect on their college experiences and offer words of wisdom to current students. A few graduates give advice and insights from what they learned from life during and after school. The advice is aimed at current students making the most of their college years and preparing for the transition into the professional world.
Embrace Growth Opportunities: Recent graduates emphasize the importance of stepping out of one’s comfort zone. Participating in extracurricular activities, joining clubs and taking on leadership roles is a great way to get involved. There are many clubs at Whatcom Community College (WCC) waiting to be joined.
Prioritize Self-Care: Balancing academic and personal life is essential. It is easy to get caught up in things like work and school and not focus on the true thing that is important: your well-being.
“Practicing time management is so important. I would procrastinate a lot and it kind of bit me in the butt a few times,” said recent WCC graduate Lukas Wolter. “Taking care of yourself and balancing school with your own life is the best way to get through school, otherwise you’ll feel trapped.”
Prioritizing oneself is an important aspect of life that is often forgotten with everything else going on. However, the best way to get through school is to make sure you are doing OK.
Take Advantage of Resources: Colleges offer a wide range of resources and services that students should utilize fully. Whether it is academic support centers, career counseling or mental health services, taking advantage of these resources can help the college experience and contribute to personal and academic success. Many students go their entire college career without even studying on campus.
A former WCC student said, “Being on campus is something that all students must do anyways. So, might as well use some of the free things they have to offer. Using resources like the Writing Center and Media Center really helped my grades improve.”
Taking advantage of the resources that WCC has to offer is something that all students could benefit from.
Enjoy the Journey: Each and every graduate emphasized the importance of enjoying the college journey. It is a time of self-discovery, personal growth and creating lifelong memories. Students use community college as a jump start to post high school education, but some are in a rush to finish college as fast as possible. But each graduate interviewed all said the same thing, “Take your time.”
Sometimes just taking a deep breath and enjoying the time in the moment is the best thing to do.
As college students embark on their academic journeys, the advice from recent graduates serves as a valuable compass, guiding them through the challenges and hardships of the college experience. With these small pieces of advice, current students can look forward to college knowing what they can do to succeed.
