To first-years and more likely the parents who picked this up amidst a bevy of move-in materials,
Welcome to the beginning of what can truly become an amazing four-year journey.
As I prepared to write this column, I asked some fellow seniors and upperclassmen for nuggets of wisdom, “What would you want to tell the first-year you?”
Even as I asked myself this question, I felt like no Gandalf or Yoda. Even though make a sentence like him I can, it is hard to contextualize the person who first walked onto this campus. In a way, he seems quite distant.
First-day-of-school Jay was a Classics major with dreams of becoming a modern-day Indiana Jones, bullwhip and hat included. He was also fully unaware of alcohol and sexual assault on college campuses, Greek life, hierarchical social networks and this place people kept mentioning called Shooters.
The question I tried to answer was what did that person want to know as he stepped out of his car to be greeted by an army of FACs and a brand new community to call home.
Three years of Duke has felt like many more, and the hard-won lessons we’ve learned have certainly racked up. For this, my first column of my last year at Duke, I thought it would be appropriate provide some pieces of advice to guide you on your journey.
As all that have come before you, you may tread forward in the established ruts for a college experience, and perhaps, you’ll have to learn the lessons that follow in practice for them to truly mean something—I know this was the case for me—but my hope for you is that Duke can be a place where you grow and learn to take advantage of the many opportunities set before you. A place where you’re challenged to grow into the person you want to become and begin to know who that will be for the rest of your life.
1) Recognize your youth.
You seem like kids to my fellow seniors and me. You’re fresh out of high school with so much ahead of you that will build you into a self-sufficient adult. You might be less experienced, but this campus and this community are truly yours now. Ignore the habits and refuse to let seniors dictate the future of a community they will soon depart from. Seeing Duke with fresh eyes can add so much more to the discussions about its future than our years of habit.
2) Wander with purpose
I guarantee you that some high-level administrators will tell you this week to explore and go outside of your comfort zone. I will tell you now before them hopefully to do more than that. Wander, don’t just explore, but do it with purpose. This first year is the best opportunity you will have in college to try a random class in a subject with which you have no experience or to go to that club meeting you heard about from a friend. Start a project for a need you observe in the community or apply for pretty much everything and anything. You never know where you might end up. The best experiences I have had at Duke were ones that happened by chance and because I said yes to something that was unconventional and unexpected.
Take the time to integrate and reflect on your experiences as you go and build the story of who you are and where you are going. People may push you into specific tracks to prepare you for the next step after college, but by taking more deviations from that path than planned, you give yourself more chances to grow and develop than you ever would have following a preset plan.
3) Never be fully comfortable
If you’re comfortable with everything in your life at Duke and don’t feel pushed or challenged, you’re doing something wrong. Recent articles about higher education have pointed to an overly politically correct campus experience that harms mental health and intellectual discourse. While I fundamentally disagree with the concept that being a good person is somehow being “politically correct,” there is value to the notion that discomfort is vital to gaining something from your Duke experience.
Push yourself in the classroom, expose yourself to competing ideas and claims, and make friends with people who you would not under different conditions. You will make your life far richer by pushing yourself to live outside of your academic and social comfort zones.
4) Define Yourself
You are awesome. Never let anyone tell you otherwise or convince yourself of the opposite.
That said, everyone is different. Just because someone is really good at something does not preclude you from being really good at your passion. We have a tendency to compete as people who once were the top of our respective classes and that competition breeds a degree of insecurity. We all feel it, even if we don’t let you in to the feelings behind our smiling selfies on Facebook. These four years are an opportunity to learn about yourself and define the person you are becoming.
Focus on that personal development and on enjoying what you have instead of wondering why you’re not doing this internship, class, or club like your friend Susie. Leave this campus in four years with a better sense of who you are as a person in a global community of leaders and scholars. It may take time and you’ll always have your doubts, but that outcome is far more important than a specific leadership position or academic opportunity.
On Wednesday I turn 21, marking an official induction into being a real adult in America. Three years ago, I was excitedly preparing for move-in day, nervously wondering if I would make friends and what I would do with these four years ahead of me. I never expected what has happened and how I have diverged from the path I had envisioned.
May the L-Mo be with you! This community is yours now to make your own and to learn from.
And if you’re ever in need of guidance, ask any upperclassmen. They’ll be more than happy to tell you where Gross Hall is or how to land that perfect internship.
We’ve all been there before.
Jay Sullivan is a Trinity senior and a biweekly columnist.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.