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Friday, March 29, 2024

As you take this year’s first steps across Reitz Union, through Turlington Plaza or into Library West, know that Gainesville, UF and The Alligator welcome you home. If this is your first time here, you’ll quickly become acquainted with what Gainesville has to offer. Prepare for the golden age between child and adult known as “college.” To those coming back: We missed you. Our town, schools and businesses are happy to have you back.

As we progress as Gators, Gainesville will seem more and more like home. After all, we spend more time in Gainesville during the school year than in our home towns. Its streets ferry us to and from work, class and parties, delivering us to morning exams and late-night jams alike. As graduation approaches, walking from class to class, driving on its roads and taking the right I-75 exits will become muscle memory.

Now might be a good time to look forward to what this year may hold in store for you.

Freshman, this year is going to turn what you know about school on its head. Teachers will turn into professors and you’ll be in the driver’s seat when it comes to your education. Don’t worry. It’s a good thing. This way you’ll be able to take classes that let you scuba dive, that release your inner artist or that train you to become the razor sharp accountant you were always destined to be. Your classes will likely be more challenging than what you’re used to, so do yourself a favor and follow the cliché advice: Start studying early. Because you’re the conductor of your own academic symphony, you’ll be solely responsible when things go wrong. As long as you’re paying attention, going to class, doing the homework and studying, you should be fine.

But remember to pace yourself. You have to make it through four years, give or take depending on your incoming credits or major requirements. There has to be some recreation built into your work schedule. Go stargazing on the Payne’s Prairie observation deck. Sit in the football stadium at night with a hot drink from Gator Corner Dining, and think about the gladiatorial spectacle that unfolds Saturday afternoons on that darkened field. Lie in your bed watching Netflix. Whatever works for you.

If you are a returning student, even if you think you know what’s in store, you may be surprised. If you’re now a senior, consider how much you changed each year you came back. You still have another year to go. There are a litany of other things to try, places to go, classes to take and professors to meet. Some of those may yet change the course of your scholastic career, inspire you to go to grad school or break you into a new field. Gainesville, UF and Santa Fe have a lot more to offer you than you can possibly pack into four years, so buckle up. Remember also that it is never too late to get started on switching your major or career track. Life is too short to do something you hate.

This place wouldn’t be the same without us, and we wouldn’t be the same without it. So no matter your year, major, or school: Welcome not just back, but home, to your collegetown of Spanish moss and lofty Florida oaks.

 

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