With graduation ahead, seniors at GCSU are reflecting on their time in Milledgeville as they say goodbye to the campus and community that watched them grow from wide-eyed freshmen to almost adults, uncertain for what comes next.
When I unlocked my shoebox of a dorm room in Bell Hall three years ago, I couldn’t have imagined all the adventures ahead of me. Looking back through my journals and photos now, I see a mix of unforgettable moments, missed opportunities and lessons learned a little too late.
To my credit, I’m not the only one.
“I didn’t realize how it’s okay to miss a few hours of sleep to spend time with friends,” said Madelyn Lowe, a senior middle grades education major. “You can catch up on sleep on the weekend, so it’s okay to have a little extra fun during the week building those relationships.”
Not everyone thrives on minimal sleep and Alanis, but even as someone who appreciates eight hours of sleep and survived 8 a.m. classes my freshman year, I never regretted the late nights I said yes to – 11 p.m. intramural games, Cookout runs and long conversations that stretched into early morning. What I do regret are the moments I passed up for comfort and routine.
While Milledgeville’s downtown encompasses all of two streets of shops and restaurants, seniors said it’s worth trying all the local spots that many students only experience briefly.
“I wish I had explored more downtown restaurants, like the Brick, Shima, the Local Yokel and Metropolis,” Lowe said.
For many freshmen, college represents a fresh start. With thousands of students on campus, you have the rare opportunity to redefine yourself. Gigi McAuley, a senior criminal justice major, said she wishes she had embraced that freedom more fully.
“I wish I utilized all of the resources that GCSU gave me and also took more risks to get involved,” McAuley said. “I wish I had gotten a lot more involved in different clubs and just really stretched my friend group.”
It’s tempting to stay in your comfort zone, gravitating toward people who feel familiar, but growth doesn’t always happen there.
“Get involved,” McAuley said. “No one knows who you were in high school. If you were shy in high school, you don’t have to be that now. Change happens with a choice; you just have to make the choice to talk to a friend or go get involved in something.”
Our freshman year, we were told to get involved over and over again, so my first weekend in Milledgeville, I went to an ice cream social at the Baptist Collegiate Ministry, never dreaming that I would serve on their leadership teams for the next two years, meet some of my best friends and grow in my faith like never before.
College is defined by change – a constant transition between home and Milledgeville, different classes every semester and each year, new friends coming and old ones leaving.
“Things are going to change, and that’s not a bad thing,” McAuley said. “It’s just different. It’s slightly uncomfortable in the beginning, but you have to allow it to happen.”
While freshman year might be the ideal chance for a fresh start, McAuley also noted that one of her biggest takeaways from college is that there’s always room to start anew.
“A lesson I learned a little too late is that it’s never too late,” McAuley said. “You can always begin again.”
Whether you feel like you missed out freshman year or took some wrong turns, next semester is a new time to say yes to new opportunities, new friendships or a new version of yourself.
As seniors look ahead to graduate school, jobs or other next steps, we see that the choices we made in college shape what comes next. The internships I hesitated to apply for, the study abroad trip I wasn’t sure would work out and the leadership roles I didn’t feel ready for all led me to my next chapter.
But beyond resumes, what matters most are the relationships and community you build along the way, the people who challenge you, support you and make college feel like home. A sweet friend once told me, “People go where there’s fun, but they stay where they’re loved.”
So, take the risks to explore new places, meet new people and try new things, but stay where you’re loved and poured into. Write things down. Take more pictures than your phone can hold. Because one day, sooner than you think, you’ll blink and realize how quickly it all went. And you’ll wish you had known to hold onto it just a little tighter.