Letter From the Editor: To the Seniors

Olivia Silvey ’25

Editor-in-Chief

This editorial goes out to the seniors – I don’t know about y’all, but recently, senioritis has become a very real obstacle in my daily life. It’s hard for me to understand why exactly, since I thoroughly enjoy all of my classes this semester, I’m incredibly passionate about my thesis and I’ve now been Editor in Chief for almost two years, so it’s fairly smooth sailing these days (I hope I didn’t just jinx that). Regardless, it’s been an everyday struggle to get up and keep doing the work. 

After some reflection, I think senioritis comes from a healthy mix of boredom and anticipation. We’ve been doing the same thing for almost four years now – fall semester, break, spring semester, break, repeat. Of course we’re ready to leap out of that cycle and into a new one, whether that’s a job, grad school, traveling, returning home or something else. It’s mind-blowing to me that come May 18, it won’t be “summer break” but just “summer.” And that’s how it will be forever (unless of course you go into education).

After four years, this pattern can get boring – again, not because our academics aren’t engaging or our extracurriculars aren’t meaningful. Rather, we have spent these four years – or more, or less – understanding how our minds and bodies function within the blueprint that Trinity gives us. We hopefully know what daily schedule works for us; what kind of people we like to surround ourselves with; how we accomplish large and small goals. That is powerful, and something we had much less understanding of entering our first days here. 

However, we can’t stay here forever – and I say that with both regret and relief. It’s terrifying to begin to shape our own lives after dutifully attending our Monday/Wednesday/Friday 10 a.m. for the last few semesters. Scrolling on LinkedIn just adds to that terror when we see our classmates with six-figure salaries lined up for May 19 (for those of you with jobs after graduation, I sincerely applaud you – good work) or acceptance letters into Ivy League grad schools (again, applause). In the last six months I have questioned, over and over again, what is the right next step? 

Obviously, I know that everyone’s next move looks different. As I’ve pursued this question for myself, I’ve realized that my angst does not necessarily come from not knowing where I want to end up, but more from knowing where to start. In theory, experimentation and exploration sounds fantastic; when it comes to applying for jobs, school, or even figuring out what city I’d like to live in next, I feel completely frozen. It needs to be right, but I don’t know what that means.  

While I don’t have all, or many, of the answers to this, I hope this feeling resonates with at least a few of you so I can share what helps me on a day to day level. Whenever I’m feeling angsty or existential about my future (16 years old much?) I have recently found that engaging in conversations with mentors who I trust is incredibly grounding. 

For example, I’m currently wrapping up my participation in the Bantam Career Network Mentorship Program for the second year in a row. I had a fantastic experience with my mentor Ran in my junior year; during each of our weekly sessions, the issue was always that our hour was up. I was still in an exploratory phase of my post-grad experience, and he was an incredible guiding light as I started to think about what exactly I wanted my time to look like. (We still keep in touch, obviously.) This year, I was a little more nervous to participate in the program because I felt like I had to have it figured out already; I was terrified of disappointing my incoming mentor. 

About two minutes into our first meeting, these worries melted away. We almost immediately made each other laugh and admitted that we were both nervous, which made us laugh even more. However, it wasn’t just our easy chit-chat that made my worries go away. As Sandy and I talked about my activities, goals and interests, and how they overlapped with her experience, she was able to remind me that we don’t know what we want or what our strengths are until we actually do it. This idea sounds quite simple on paper, but when she said that (a little more eloquently than I just did), it felt revolutionary. 

I have found that stepping out of these kinds of conversations with mentors, professors and alumni helps get my head back on straight. I think it’s easy for us soon-to-be graduates to get caught up in our own minds and forget about the actual world around us. The people around us have our backs, and now is the most necessary time to be having these vulnerable conversations with them. We must continue to ask questions of our role models and ourselves as we step into this new landscape – and remind ourselves that it’s not necessary to have answers right away. 

I’m sure I’ll have more to say on graduation in the coming months. Until then, with peace and love, 

– OPS