College feels like racing a Formula 1 car. I’m driving down the straight, braking just fast enough to overcome the obstacles and weaving around my competitors, putting the pedal to the metal. As I enter my junior year, I am on the cusp of finishing my last two laps before victory — graduation. Yet, when I look in the rearview mirror, I can already see what I'll be leaving behind.
I just moved into my first apartment — my pit stop. However, I catch myself missing my old on-campus dorm, Honors Village. It felt so organic to meet new people and become friends in an instant. I could always rely on another person in the communal kitchen to chat with — perhaps about their classes or the new dish they were concocting.
Going to the Honors Village courtyard always felt like an adventure, and I embraced the spontaneity of connecting with people I’d never met before. Even now, my pit crew — my closest friends and current roommates — was formed in those environments during my freshman and sophomore years.
Now, in my third lap, I will miss how infinite time felt when first starting my engine on campus. In freshman year, advisors and peers constantly told me to “try everything.” The unspoken advice was I had to commit to extracurriculars. I jumped headfirst into student organizations for the first two years in an effort to discover what I loved.
Sometimes I want to put the car in reverse and tell my freshman self, “Your time is precious. Don’t waste it.”
Junior year doesn’t just mean a better class registration time. I am entering the sweet spot of this race, where I know what excites me while still having the time and opportunities for new maneuvers. I am taking detours with my friends to travel to new places or try out new hobbies.
Even though I’m past the halfway mark, the checkered flag still feels far away. The thought of graduation is exciting, and I imagine what it will be like to walk across the stage and hear my name boom through the speakers. But for now, I want to enjoy my last two laps.
Real Formula 1 races are partially won through speed, but college is not about how fast you can complete something. If I am going to race, I might as well take the pit stops and put on a great show.
Grace Tran is a 20-year-old mechanical engineering junior.
