As Graduation nears and time creeps by, I’m sure many of you are realizing that living at St. Lawrence isn’t going to last forever. I want to ease that stress you may have, whether you’re a relaxed freshmen, a semi-ansty sophomore, a stressed junior, or a shitting the bed Senior. I reached out to several SLU alums as a way to remind you the greatest parts about going to SLU now, and what you have to look forward to after you graduate.
Brittney Clark ’12: “The best part about entering the real world as a SLU alum is realizing just how many other SLU alumni there are out there. For such a small school, we have one of the biggest alumni networks I know of. I currently live in Boston, and sometimes I wonder if I’m in some sort of Boston version of the Adirondack semester with the amount of SLU alumni here!
The most challenging part about entering the real world is being apart from all of your best friends. Other than college, there’s no other time in your life that you are able to be in such close vicinity to all of your best friends at the same time. Once you leave college, your friends are no longer a hall away, but now states away. It’s pretty tough accepting this at first, but you get used to it after a while. All of SLU’s alumni events help make this transition a little easier.”
Katie Kraunelis ’15: “My favorite part about SLU is that even though I went, I feel like I never left. Living in NYC I run into alums and fellow classmates alike weekly, I hang out with my college friends every weekend, work alongside an ’08 alum and even go to bars that are owned and run by St. Lawrence alumni. The best thing about SLU is the amazing people you meet and the community that always seems to follow you no matter where you end up.
My three pieces of advice that I would give to any undergrad is 1. Please go abroad, SLU is great but there is a whole world out there to explore 2. Connect with awesome alumni, I swear we are not scary and are always down to meet some fellow SLUzers 3. Relish the free time you have now and do cool things like ice climb, ski and camp while it’s still cheap and accessible to you!”
Emily Fisher ’12: “You may not realize it now, but if you’re living in a townhouse, you’re living the dream. You won’t be surrounded by all your best friends, footsteps from a golf course, or have diggs this nice again for a long time…and when you do you’ll probably be 75 and retired. Live that up while you have it because it’s not reality! Don’t you dare go to sleep the night before graduation. I did, and I regret it. You’ve got the whole rest of your life to catch up on zzz’s. Don’t waste your time now. If you haven’t already, figure out a way to study abroad. I know it sounds incredibly cliche, but it will be the best thing that ever happened to you, and you will make the best of friends!”
Annie Massie ’09: “Larrys love Larrys! Regardless of their graduation year, St. Lawrence alumni all enjoy reminiscing about the below zero Canton winters, nights at the Tick Tock, or watching SLU vs. Clarkson games in Appleton Arena. As you enter life after St. Lawrence, remember to make connections with other alums. After all, you never know where a conversation reminiscing about college days might lead you!”
Anna Pond ’15: “My piece of advice that I would give seniors is to live it up on the last night before graduation. I was exhausted, my feet were sore from the dinner dance, and I could not imagine sitting in the blistering heat of graduation with any trace of a hangover, so I called it a night early. HASHTAG REGRET. Not only did my bike get stolen as I was saying goodnight to a friend, but I missed out on the very last SLU memories that were being made. And as it turns out, nothing could’ve prepared me for the heat of graduation anyway!! I think if I were given one re-do for all of college, that’s the thing that I would choose. Every other mistake along the way was a building block that made me stronger and wiser, but that was just a missed opportunity to have a lot of fun and embrace a place that I miss every single day.”
Caroline Broms ’12: “Graduating from SLU, while very bittersweet, also provided me one of the most amazing experiences of my life- grad school in London. The combination of a phenomenal education, top notch advising, and endless experiences were the stepping stone to my success as a recent college graduate living in the Big Smoke. From there, I was lucky enough to work an additional year and now that I’m back in Boston, I am making use of the alumni association and all that it has to offer. St. Lawrence, while small and tucked away up North, certainly is mighty and provides an experience that you will carry with you all your life.”