Good luck Class of 2004

Well, we are at a four-year party, and it is almost last call. A few months ago, when graduation did not loom and we felt invincible to the outside world, a friend and I reminisced on our best days at Fairfield.

Putting key events like our first date and our first kiss aside, we realized that our friends here at Fairfield are our second family. The best days were comprised of those little details that we ignore as we search for a job, cram in one last game of Beirut and brag about how many pitchers we pounded over the weekend.

The best parts of life are not immediately recognized; college is filled with moments like these. As seniors prepare for graduation and the realities of a job, time here in the Fairfield bubble diminishes. Where this chapter ends, the next one begins.

This is your chance to take one last trip to the Point and lap around the Grape with a Bud Light or 180 and vodka in hand, to have Yankees/Red Sox arguments with your friends, to argue over whose dishes are in the sink, and to get one last parking ticket on campus. We are all going to miss things we cannot anticipate – these are the best times of our lives.

As we attempt to finish our college careers on a high note, cramming in last minute papers between instant messages on the computer, we realize our time here at Fairfield was more than an education through books and lectures.

The opportunities to work with the finest professors, to befriend perhaps the most genuine classmates and to achieve intellectual success are among the most rewarding experiences we have here.

Looking back, we have endured the pain of tragedy as a university community. Together we have survived the tragedies of 9/11, a hostage take over and the death of a fellow student.

We have bonded as one, coming together with social groups that perhaps never would have mingled before. As our lives change and as we move on to different tracks, we will still have that unique connection.

As we move on from here, we remember all of those times we had together. As each day turns to night, we cannot slow down our experiences. We are excited and scared, but the past will continue to be the shadow that follows us around. Our memories will never fade when it is time to say goodbye.

There may be some days when you wake up and think you could have done more here.

Maybe you did not meet as many people or go to as many places as you could have, but you made the most of it while you could. Those days were truly wonderful, even if they did not seem that way at the time.

Maybe you never hit a single home run in Little League, and maybe you had some trouble understanding the quadratic equation. Today, it does not seem to matter so much, as life is what you make it. When you leave this town it is your time to fly. Life is a highway – ride it well. Good luck class of 2004.