Paris Solimanzadeh
Can you smell that? It’s the scent of accomplishment.
Springtime is almost over and once again we see the graduates being honored for their efforts and released from the stressful life of a student.
For people in their twenties, life seems to be one endless chain of events, each leading to the next, that are supposed to be gratifying in some way.
But when exactly will we feel content in our goals? When will we feel like we’re finally done trying to become accomplished individuals?
In high school it is drilled into our brains that college is the next step. We are told not to be absent and are forced to pass certain classes as well as several types of pre-graduation exams.
All this in order to “get out:” the ultimate mission.
However, shortly after graduation, we realize this isn’t the end.
If anything, it’s just the beginning.
We enjoy our summer and before we know it we get thrown into a completely different educational environment.
College.
For most, a community college is the best bet in getting the all-mighty bachelor’s degree. “Junior” college is a strange place with people of all ages attending the same institution in order to meet their general education requirements and eventually transfer to a university.
So once again we do as were told, take our 60 units, pay our dues and pray to get a passing grade.
For most students this takes longer than the stated two years but we strive and try to enjoy the journey.
The day finally comes when our acceptance letter is mailed and we made it. Are we accomplished yet?
Not quite. Now is the time to get serious.
Tuition is expensive and we’ve actually made it to real adulthood.
We’ve experienced minor stressors in our community college but we have no idea what we’re in for.
Time to pick a major. We ask ourselves time and time again, “What do I want to be when I grow up?”
This question comes with an endless path of crazy thoughts circling our minds.
We soon realize, we are grown up and it’s time to really find out who we are.
For the lucky few who have an answer to this dangerous question, it becomes a matter of, “Where do I go from here?”
So we make appointments with advisors, pay our deadly university tuitions with no hope of financial aid and dive head-first into our upper-division courses.
Before we know it, our minds are educated, our pockets are empty and our bodies are simply exhausted from the all-nighters we pulled to get decent grades.
Can we start having some fun now and enjoy this youth our parents talked so much about?
Suddenly, we remember why we worked so hard in the first place.
We go to school to get our degree, and we get our degrees to get an awesome job that will ultimately become the career of our dreams.
This means that the reward for all of our hard work is more hard work!
The upside of all this is that now we can get paid, and with that money we can hopefully pay back those horrendous student loans we’ve acquired.
Where is the gratifying sense of knowing we’ve accomplished what we’ve set out to do?
Is it when we see that we’ve made our parents smile like they’ve never smiled before?
Or is it when we can brag about getting our four-year degree and become part of the educated elite?
I haven’t figured this out yet. But there is one very exciting thing to look forward to.
It’s called retirement.
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