Advising begins in the next couple of weeks, and we have to take time to remember that we are lucky to be in college.

We should take time selecting our courses and explore the chance to learn about new and exciting ideas. When selecting classes, we should select a class load that allows to us to make steady progress towards our major, but also allows us time to be a college student.

Furthermore, we have to remember that we are lucky to be in college, to have a chance to learn and expand ourselves through a liberal arts education.

In my own history, I have always taken the chance to add a class that I had no experience in at least once a year. I am an elementary inclusive major, and I have taken classes in areas of economics, political science and film.

Each class added to my educational experience. They were outside of the Dragon Core, meaning it was my own initiative to take the class. These classes allowed me to gain a worldview that I would not have gained if I had stayed inside the Dragon Core or my major field.

As students, we should take chances to take these classes. MSUM is a great college for taking courses in a variety of fields. It offers a variety of majors that bring with it a variety of classes we should take advantage of.

The best part of college is the experience outside the classroom as well as inside the classroom. There is no greater personal growth experience than having to wait your turn to brush your teeth next to strangers in a bathroom shared by 50 different people.

The weekends are when the college experience is enriched. Meeting people who are from a different state or even country and learning about how they live will only enhance our own experience.

It is a crime to leave Moorhead every weekend to return home. To gain the whole college experience, students should stay to ride to Target with strangers in your dorm to go shopping and make new friends.

We are the lucky few who are in college.

We have had luck on our side, whether a supporting family who saw college as a priority in our lives, or a hard working mentality that got us into college.

We should appreciate these moments and be thankful. To make the most of our experience, we should also visit with professors during office hours. They are passionate about the classes they teach because they have devoted their lives to these fields and love to discuss them.

Professors are a valuable resource because they have been where we are, and their advice should be sought and listened to. Take time to do well in classes. The chance to learn ideas that will expand our knowledge is not a chance available to every person in America.

BY ANDREW THOMASON
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