If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my four years at Baker, it’s that a person can’t overlook the inevitable. Sure, homework, tests and projects inevitably reach a due date, usually before I’m prepared, but I’m talking about something else which is unavoidable and inescapable. Graduation.

Okay, so before I get the cliché “being a senior talking about graduating” card thrown at me, you have to know the background story.

I am ready to get out. I am ready to get my degree, walk across the stage and do my little happy dance to show I did it.

I’ve been that way for a while, and I’ve had a countdown to May 20 for several weeks now.

But why all of a sudden do I feel like slamming on the brakes of a car going 100 m.p.h. down a steep hill?

Maybe it’s because I haven’t a clue what I’m going to do starting this summer. Maybe I’m afraid I’ll be making a living out of a tip jar from singing by my cardboard box of a home.

Or, maybe it’s because I’ll actually miss this place.

I look back on these past four years and sometimes feel like I could’ve enjoyed it more.

Sure, I’ve had fun times with friends. I’ve made those infamous midnight Kwik runs. And I have once, and only once, watched the sun come up after a night full of homework.

I’ve also had a blast getting to fuel my passion of music in my second home on campus, Owens Musical Arts Building. And I can’t forget the good times I shared with Baker Orange staff members on Wednesday nights.

And yet, in all of that, I feel like my college experience is lacking. I could’ve been more involved. I could’ve gotten to know so many people on campus that I now only recognize as faces.

Or, I simply could’ve stopped, taken a deep breath and realized through all of the homework and stress, I really had it good here.

I have a little over a month left in my collegiate career, and I almost feel compelled to make a Baker Bucket List of things I should do before I leave.

Because I don’t want to have any regrets when I walk across that stage in Collins Center.

I don’t want to look back and think, ‘wow, I spent way too much time worrying about schoolwork (which for those of you who know me is more than it should be) and should’ve spent more time with friends.’

It’s time to have a new outlook on college life, before the inevitable happens, and I go from Baker student to Baker alumna.

Better late then never, right?