A very warm welcome to the class of 2018

Whether you are a returning student, staff or faculty member, alumni who call the Richmond area home or a member of the class of 2018, The Collegian wishes you a warm welcome to the start of this new academic year. Every fresh semester is unique and exciting, but the fall of 2014 should be truly dynamic. We have a freshman class that flaunts 331 national honor society members and represents 32 different countries. We welcome our new provost, Jacquelyn S. Fetrow, as she embarks on her inaugural fall at Richmond. We celebrate the history of our university with the centennial year of Westhampton College. And for those of us who have been here for a while, we enter this fall with nostalgic warmth as this is the final fall that President Ayers will occupy his desk in Maryland Hall.

Regardless of what makes this semester at Richmond special, the start of a new academic year is always a time that narrows the spotlight on two groups of students: the freshmen and the seniors. For the class of 2015, ideas about legacy and one last chance coupled with intimidating questions about the future make the final academic year a whirlwind. It is fundamentally the seniors' time, having paid their dues for three years to take their place as leaders in the university social scene, academic sphere and governing body.

For the freshmen, the whirlwind is even more disorienting. While seniors are thinking about where they will be next year, freshmen are still trying to figure out next week, tomorrow or their next class.

I believe one of the duties of a senior class is to pass on parcels of advice to the freshmen who will one day lead the student body of our school. No doubt, as the year progresses and bonds between young and old strengthen, these suggestions and insights will pass from one university generation to another with frequency. But right now, before those bonds are formed, I think the stereotypical thing freshmen hear from upperclassmen is along the lines of: "These will be the best four years of your life, and you'll be a senior before you know it. Enjoy every second of it, and make the most of it before it's gone."

For a senior, this is a safe way to "connect" with a younger student without having to dive into the sometimes-murky details that truly make the college experience a "journey." This isn't to say that the senior's sentiments aren't genuine, but it's something that can be lost in transmission.

These stereotypical ways of giving advice to freshmen have become cliched to the point of losing their meaning. Upon hearing this kind of advice, how many college freshmen really stop and think about having the time of their life? How many enter every moment with the awareness that there is a definite endpoint to their college experience -- that they truly will be in their last year before they know it?

I urge the freshman class to consider this kind of advice deeply. Get past the cliche and consider what this means.

You are on an amazing campus in a beautiful, diverse city, and you'd be crazy to waste a second of the opportunity to spend four years of study in a place like this. And when you're told that you don't know how lucky you are to be at the start of your journey, don't just nod politely. You really don't know how lucky you are, just as anyone at the start of anything can't appreciate the beauty of what will unfold. If you consider this deeply, and keep it in the back of your mind as much as you can over the next four years, you will find your path here and tread on it more confidently, purposefully and thoughtfully.

You might find yourself taking the kinds of risks that will better you as a person and make you a more valuable professional. Go out and become the leader of a campus club or organization. Dive into the Richmond environment and develop some compelling research analysis. Pick up the violin and play until your fingers bleed.

The point here isn't about what you do, but that you plunge passionately into whatever that is. Keeping in mind that you won't be here forever will help focus your attention and reveal to you more quickly what you truly hope to achieve. This place has too many opportunities waiting for you to waste any time.

So don't yawn over the "enjoy every second of this, it will be the best time of your life" cliche. Show us how deeply those national honor society minds can dive. In four years you'll be giving the advice to someone you hope takes you seriously, because you'll know how beautiful the journey can be. A very warm welcome to the class of 2018.

Contact staff writer Clay Helms at clay.helms@richmond.edu