In less than a week, you will officially come to the end of your college career and most will have the opportunity to walk across the commencement stage, receive your degrees and go out into the world, something most 2020 graduates were not able to do.

This last year has been challenging for all of us, but working through your last few semesters of college in the middle of a pandemic is no small feat, and you should be proud of all your accomplishments.

Many of you are probably at least a little disappointed in how your college experience has ended. Your graduation ceremonies will be much different than in previous years, and you may not have all your family in attendance like you might have hoped.

Still, you should try to enjoy the moment as much as you can, as the opportunity to walk for commencement is still better than none at all.

It’s also time to start thinking about your life after you walk across that stage.

Many of you will leave Brookings to start your next adventure, some of you will stay for graduate school, but if one thing is certain, you all deserve a break.

Don’t stress too much about life after academia. Take some time off to reflect on your college days, appreciate the friendships you made and the people you all became. You don’t have to jump headfirst into adulting just yet.

But most importantly, don’t worry if your final GPA and academic standings aren’t quite what you hoped they would be. Remember, C’s get degrees, and future employers probably won’t be as concerned with what grade you got as they will be with what you gained from your time here.

We at The Collegian hope your time at South Dakota State University was memorable, and we wish you luck in all your future endeavors.

Regards,

The Collegian Editorial Board

The Collegian Editorial Board meets weekly and agrees on the issue of the editorial. The editorial represents the opinion of The Collegian.