{"id":16182,"date":"2015-05-31T06:00:52","date_gmt":"2015-05-31T10:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=16182"},"modified":"2015-05-30T13:15:14","modified_gmt":"2015-05-30T17:15:14","slug":"words-of-wisdom-for-the-class-of-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=16182","title":{"rendered":"Words of wisdom for the Class of 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few thoughts on what I wish I’d known when I was 18<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Kelly Hockenberry<\/strong><\/span>, Columnist, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Graduates,<\/p>\n

\"KellyColumn415Revised\"<\/a>Every year, I try my best to find something meaningful to say as yet another class vacates the\u00a0halls of Unionville High (where my children attend school). It is true that with age comes wisdom. And, here is how I know I am\u00a0sufficiently \u201cold\u201d enough I\u00a0put a request for advice out on Facebook! I know! Like, who even\u00a0uses FACEBOOK anymore? My ancient generation, that\u2019s who.<\/p>\n

But, listen up because some\u00a0of them had really prolific things to say.\u00a0Overwhelmingly, the consensus is to travel, travel, travel. If you have the chance to tour the\u00a0globe, especially a \u201cstudy abroad on your parents dime\u201d, just do it. I did not see Europe until I\u00a0was 39\u00a0years old. One foot in the grave, right? I hear ya. Don\u2019t be me.<\/p>\n

The second most popular words of wisdom had to do with not sweating the small stuff. Now,\u00a0I\u2019m going to tell you something that your parents will probably HATE and I am covering the\u00a0ears of my 11th grader…but, the stuff of high school really never mattered. At all. You got a\u00a04.5 GPA? Awesome. Perfect SAT score? Super. Guess what? Five minutes into college, no\u00a0one cares. I swear, it\u2019s true. You will NEVER have to talk about high school again. Isn\u2019t that\u00a0refreshing? Who wants to peak when they are 17? NO ONE. You are destined for bigger and\u00a0better things.<\/p>\n

Now, don\u2019t get it twisted, you still need to work hard and study. Even the\u00a0\u201ccheapest\u201d college degree costs a fortune and should never be taken for granted. Plus, hate\u00a0to be Debbie Downer, but chances are your Bachelor\u2019s degree will merely be the stepping\u00a0stone to a graduate degree. In other words, you have a looooong time before you need to\u00a0know what you want to do with the rest of your life. Don\u2019t rush it!<\/p>\n

Surrounding yourself with positive people who will encourage your hopes and dreams is the\u00a0key to happiness. I don\u2019t think anyone can prepare you for the moment you find yourself away\u00a0from your parents and siblings for the first time. It is a little daunting. But, remember that your\u00a0loved ones are only a phone call (or text) away. You will get through it. By Thanksgiving, you\u2019ll\u00a0never want to come home again!<\/p>\n

Just kidding, your pocket money will be totally gone by then.<\/p>\n

The most practical piece of advice comes from my ol\u2019 Widener buddy, Luke (who was a\u00a0basketball player with my husband and an overall super, nice guy) \u201cDon\u2019t leave your clothes\u00a0overnight in a college washer or dryer\u037e they will not be handled with care!\u201d And, then there is\u00a0my friend Ed from high school who had the funniest: \u201cStudy abroad, not \u201ca broad\u201d…even\u00a0though that turned out pretty well for me, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Go out into the world and show everyone what a top rate education you received in this little,\u00a0rural town. You are more prepared than you realize. This time of your life will fly by! Soak it up\u00a0and enjoy every precious moment. It will all work out in the end. I promise.<\/p>\n

Congratulations Class of 2015! xoxo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few thoughts on what I wish I’d known when I was 18 By Kelly Hockenberry, Columnist, The Times Dear Graduates, Every year, I try my best to find something meaningful to say as yet another class vacates the\u00a0halls of Unionville High (where my children attend school). It is true that with age comes wisdom. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4],"tags":[6260,738,6259],"class_list":["post-16182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-featured","tag-class-of-2015","tag-graduates","tag-wisdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16182"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16183,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16182\/revisions\/16183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}