College is short, don’t waste away your time

Shaheed Shihan Columnist

Before I started my senior year, “What school year are you in?” would be the gateway to prolong a not-so-memorable conversation. Now I just zone off, thinking about the time that flew by and the graduation looming on the horizon. I ponder over things that could have been and would have been if it had not been for my laid back attitude during the first two years in college.

I think about all the times I could have been with my fellow Jacks and cheered on the football team till my lungs could cheer no more. I think about all the times I missed the Hobo Day parade and the chance to dress up in rags and be called a hobo. I think about all the International Nights and potlucks that took place where I lost the opportunity to try out a new cuisine. 

I think about all the dance club events I could have gone to and acquired some new dance moves to impress some girl I’ve never met. I think about all interesting classes I could have taken with some amazing professors instead of taking the easy route to an A. 

And so as I’m trying to make up for lost time and opportunities, I write this article in the hope that at least one freshman or sophomore, maybe even a junior will read this and start contemplating about how he or she wants to spend their time at SDSU. Yes, you’re definitely allowed weekends, even weekdays to get black-out drunk. But eventually, it gets boring. Remember that on those countless mid-week nights you spend watching Animal House or Cheech and Chong in your dorm room for the umpteenth time, there is something a little more interesting going on around campus. 

Until my sophomore year in school, I was convinced that SDSU and South Dakota as a whole, wasn’t the place for me. That was until a close friend of mine dragged me to a Delta Chi recruitment event that I met some remarkable like-minded people. Today I realize the true meaning of YOLO-ing. It wasn’t getting drunk till my memory collapsed nor was it the time when I hooked up with “this smoking hot chick.” 

It was about the time I spent sharing experiences with a conversation partner from Djibouti. It was about the time I spent at the Sioux Falls Arena waiting in line for hours just to see the Jacks clinch another shot at the NCAA Tournament. And it was about the time I hiked up Harney Peak, feeling like I was “King of the World”. 

So before your time is up, at college or in this lifetime, I urge you to take charge and live large and that will give you a head start on relieving your regrets.

 

 

Shaheed Shihan is a senior majoring in mathematics. He can be emailed at [email protected].