Mikaela Millslagle | Opinion Co-Editor

January 4th, 2016: sleepily walking across the parking lot from middle Briscoe to the science center for the first day of J-Term, my thoughts ebbed back and forth between wishing I had slept more, my schedule for the day, and possibilities of what my class would be like. I walked into the familiar building that has been my home for the past 3 ½ years, looking at the all-too-familiar research posters as I headed towards the classroom. As I was almost to the room, I passed a grouping of graduate school information fliers, one of which was for Des Moines University (a school to which I have recently applied). That was the moment. Everything hit me. And I was immediately overwhelmed by so many emotions I could not even focus on the first hour of my J-Term class (my apologies, Dr. Bonagura).

So I saw a few fliers for graduate school… So what? What was my problem? What could have possibly overtaken my mind enough to completely miss an hour of arguably the best class I have ever take?

A sudden realization.

This was my last. J-Term. EVER.

That was hard to swallow. I went through a quick cycle of, “No way… This isn’t happening… Where did freshman year go? Am I even old enough to be on my own?” It was a progression through denial, anxiety, sadness, fear, and eventually contentment. It was a whirlwind of emotions in a short amount of time. In addition to realizing that this was my last J-Term, I also realized that I wouldn’t be spending it with a majority of my friends. Thankfully one suitemate had decided to also live on campus during the brutally cold month of January (love love love you Kiley), but my four other suitemates were nowhere to be found (they literally didn’t register on Find Friends for a majority of their adventures). Regardless, I was determined to live the J-Term life and found myself staying up late, getting up early, having an amazing time in my class, and working a fair amount. By the time that my final class was here, I felt like I had made the most of January, and so I enjoyed my short break before second semester was to start up. Needing time away and a good bit of relaxation, I took a short road trip to Omaha.

Eager as I was to see all of my ladies again, I came back fairly early on Tuesday just to have a chance to catch up. During my drive back, I thought about how I hadn’t gotten to see or spend time with most of them for nearly six weeks, and how much fun we would have this semester. Kate wouldn’t be overloaded with courses, Chels would be student teaching but have less homework (no more 2 AM library adventures), Kiley would be her busy self, Taylor would have softball but I could go watch ALL of her home games, and Alli would fall back into our pattern of class and homework together during the week. We would also have our weekends for late girl’s nights. This would be our semester to really enjoy life together… which is when it hit me again. This was my last semester of college.

This fact came a lot harder than the idea of my last J-Term. When graduation comes in May, I won’t be able to live with these ladies anymore. Chelsea is going to move away to teach, Kate will have a job in Omaha, Alli will be in PT school, and if I’m lucky we may end up in Des Moines together. Kiley will still have a semester left, and little Taylor will still have two years. During my drive I realized I was not emotionally ready to separate from these five amazing people I’ve grown to love and view as my sisters during our time living together. I spent a good hour crying during my drive while I relived all of our crazy adventures together. I cried even harder when I imagined life five years from now, when we’re all adulting and in new lives and how awesome it’ll be to revisit college and those memories. And then, I stopped crying.

While throwing myself a tiny pity party during my drive about how graduation was too close for comfort and I desperately wished I could go back just a semester, I realized that was foolish. Yes, graduation was going to mean lots of changes and distance put between myself and my best friends, but it would mean so much more.

It would mean that Chelsea, Kate, Alli, and I survived college. We made it out with degrees and had great futures ahead of us. It would mean Kiley was another semester closer to New York, and it would mean Taylor finished up her first year at BVU (which I hope we made completely amazing for her). It would mean that we would all grow, but we would all still have each other at the other end of a phone. Although the thought of this final semester often gets under my skin and makes me a little upset, it has also made me realize how lucky I am to have five of the best suitemates and best friends around. It has made me realize how lucky I am to have had a place like BVU to call home. It has also made me realize how much potential is out there beyond graduation, when I know all of my best friends will be doing amazing things that I will get to hear about every day. There are so many adventure awaiting us that make pushing on towards graduation exciting. So, senior to senior, I would like to say I can’t wait for all of us to graduate, but I also can’t wait to make the most of everything we get to do, every adventure we get to take, and every memory we will surely make during our last semester.

Here’s to the class of 2016.