By: Katie Brown

As I enter my final year at Stevens, I can’t help but reflect. Thinking about my beginnings in Humphreys 205, my “big girl apartment” in 800 Madison, and all the accomplishments and life lessons in between, I keep asking myself, “Have I been doing Stevens right?  Have I been doing my best in my classes, utilizing my professors and peers to understand my field of study? Have I been as involved on campus as I want to be, doing the activities I love and exploring new ones? Have I been frequenting the bar specials in the area, living in a town with the most bars per square mile in America should call for a night out or two, right?” My mind is quick to fall down a rabbit hole to try and answer these questions but at the end of the day, there really isn’t a “right” way to be a Stevens student. There is, however, a right way to spend your senior year. Having witnessed many now alumni enjoy their last couple of days on Castle Point, I have picked up three tricks to make sure I end my college career on the right note.

First, do not slack off in classes. The temptation is so real to binge watch How I Met You Mother for the fourth time on Netflix than write that 5 page research paper for your random humanities class but honestly, it’s not worth it. As a person who is a pro at pushing off any sort of “adulting” activity, doing well in school is surprisingly one of the most non-adult things you could do. College is most likely your last opportunity to receive a formal education. The best part about classes is that you get to explore a specific topic that interests you by one of the experts in the world. In your soon-to-be “adult life”, when will you have time to take an Introduction to Cinema class or learn about Astronomy? By your senior year, you probably finished your toughest classes and are taking the most random things to hit 12 credits. Do not slack off in class, not from the sense that it’ll prepare you better for the future, which it will, but from the sense that you get to explore topics you probably won’t have to chance to ever again.

Second, do whatever your freshmen yearself wanted to do but made every excuse not to. In my case, I am the prodigy of walking around the Club Fair freshmen year and signing her name up on every club that interested her even the slightest. During the school year, my inbox can reach upwards of 100 unread emails between all the GBM announcements and Canvas emails I ignore. Year after year I have contemplated if I should go to the meetings but have finally decided, in the words of Shia LaBeouf, just do it. You never know what new opportunities will pop up and friends you’ll make in the process. Cut the excuses and do what you want to do, no matter how far-fetched from your usual activities it is.

Third, go out often. By senior year you are the rightful age of 21 (and for those of you still waiting, I’m so sorry). Having a fun and responsible evening out on Washington Street does a body good, even if your bank account regrets it in the morning. I can’t even begin to count how many people back home are jealous that I live in Hoboken. Our city is fantastic for all ages and seeing that I don’t plan on living here post-graduation, I have to make the best of it. To clarify, going out doesn’t mean “drop hundreds of dollars on a bar tab and lose your iPhone in an Uber”, no one ever has a fun time with that. Going out is about making memories, actual ones and not the ones on your snapchat story for 24 hours. As I often tell people, staying in your dorm room studying your life away will drain you at this school. Going out really does make a difference because you’ll remember it most, not the math problem on your thermo exam.

At the end of the day, you won’t be doing your senior “right” every day of the school year. The cliffhanger on your Netflix show was just too good to hit stop, club meeting times conflict, your checking account is at the wonderful amount of $0, etc etc. It’s inevitable to have an imperfect year. So long as you step across that stage to shake President Favardin’s hand in May with a smile on your face, you are in fact doing senior year right.