Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part column series about lessons Scheffler has learned in college.

I had a hard time thinking about what I would write for my last column. This time of year, my head is constantly running through everything I have to finish before I leave for summer. Only this time, my head is running through everything I have to do before I leave Baker for good. I have spent a lot of time thinking about the past four years – the good and the bad.

I got to thinking about what I have learned in college, and I realized I have learned a lot more than just what is taught in all my classes. These lessons have been the most important to me.

Yes, I have learned a lot from my classes, but what I will take from Baker is not what I learned in Jazz History or Psychology of the Personality. What I will take from Baker are the little lessons I have learned about life, lessons I would like to share with you.

10. Gaining weight does not mean you are fat, it means you know how to have fun.

I started my career at Baker 15 pounds lighter than I will leave Baker. I was living proof that the freshmen 15 was not just an urban myth used to scare young girls about the dangers of eating ice cream at every single meal in the cafeteria.

At first, I was devastated about gaining weight. Then I started to think to my self, “Self, why are you gaining this weight?” The answer was simple – beer. So the dilemma of all dilemmas was being skinny or being fun? We all know how that one panned out. So remember, you have your entire life after college to be skinny – you have college to be fun.

9. Time spent being petty is time spent poorly.

We have all been guilty of this at one time or another in our college careers. We decide, without really knowing a person that we don’t like them. We see how a person acts in one situation and decide that that person is like that all the time, and we never give them a second chance.

Being judgmental of others and deciding you don’t like them because of one isolated incident is a terrible waste of time. You will never know, this person could be one of your best friends if you would give them a chance. So remember, you can hate people all you want, but if you hate everybody, who will buy you a shot on your birthday?

8. Nothing can top $3.50 pitchers at the Mine on Monday nights … nothing.

Let’s just be honest, there was no way I could write my last column without paying tribute to my favorite place in Baldwin, my Mecca, if you will.

I do believe that no matter where I go, I will never find a place like the Mine, the only place you can enjoy $3.50 pitchers out in the beer garden on a spring night. It’s just music to my ears. I don’t even mind smelling like stale cigarette smoke in the morning if it means I spent the night with a jukebox and a pool table.

So remember, keep the Mine alive. Never let the magic that it holds fade away.

7. Relationships weren’t designed to be easy.

There are, in my opinion, three types of people that come into Baker. Those who want to get serious and get married right out of college, those who want to get laid by lots of different people and those that just don’t care. It is almost like A Brave New World: The Dating Edition.

We are safe in our groups until we try to date those outside of our group and it fails miserably. I came into Baker with a “serious” boyfriend and that lasted oh, like two weeks.

I spent the next couple of years making mistake after mistake with men. I was so frustrated because I had come from a relationship where everything came so easy to a place in my life where nothing came easy. Then, if you are lucky, you finally find a combination that works and you are able to look back and realize that the road to a relationship isn’t supposed to be easy.

You are supposed to make mistakes and screw up along the way. If you don’t, you won’t appreciate the real thing when it happens.

So remember, love is not always patient and love is definitely not always kind, but practice makes perfect.

6. Your professors aren’t always right or fair, but they do deserve your respect.

I’ve had them too. They are the professors you have that you just can’t wait until evaluation time comes so you can tell them how much you hate them in the comment section.

As arrogant and conceited as some professors can be, they still have a job to do and that job is to teach you something. The same goes with administrators.

You may not like them or understand the decisions they make, but they have a job to do, a family to support and we have no right to keep them from doing so. So remember, they may not be the most popular people on campus from time to time, but cut them some slack.