Fear not, freshman, for your days will get better! Although you still have many lessons to learn, your wings will spread in due time. I know you’re new, but it’s time to stop panicking and learn to savor your time here, because believe me, you will be graduated in the blink of an eye.

So don’t blink. And don’t waste time. Along with earnest values, you will acquire the skill to not only prioritize, but to venerate your work and cherish your achievements, because you are important, and will accomplish much. I know you feel small, and perhaps meager, but trust me when I say that you will make a difference – in this building and outside of it.

Cultivating relationships, you will learn, is crucial. Although making friends may seem compulsory at first, it is where you end that is most important; it is who carpools with you to prom; it is who is in your selfies on graduation day and who attends your going-away party the following summer. People will come and they will go, but please believe that the finish line will be paved with your true cheerleaders, because everybody knows that: it’s not where you start – it’s where you finish.