From the Editor's Desk: In college, what counts is passion

Well, you made it to college—feels good doesn't it? After all the commotion of high school, the stress of SATs, ACTs, and all kinds of other nasty standardized acronymic test you're here at last. But guess what? It's time to forget about those test scores. Toss them out with the packaging from your shiny new refrigerator, or send them home with your weeping parents. They don't mean anything here.

I had a lightening bolt moment a few weeks ago: I realized I had forgotten what my SAT score was. That number ruled my life for most of senior year (I was really cool). I thought it was going to determine the rest of my life, define my future successes, tell the world what I was worth. And now, halfway through my college career I've totally forgotten that number. No idea.

College is where all those numbers stop meaning so much. Good grades are important, sure, but what really counts here is passion.  You can shut yourself up in your room and study to earn that flawless transcript, or you can get out there, get your hands dirty and find the thing that you truly love. (If what you love is weed and Keystone Light, keep looking.)

This place is not about building a perfect report card, it's about creating the person you'll be for the rest of your life. You won't "find yourself" in college; and you certainly won't find yourself between the four walls of your room in Williamson. But the raw material—great teachers, great friends, great opportunities—is all here if you're ready to get out, take a risk, and create yourself.  

The world you'll head out into in four short years is a scary place, and there are some staggering problems that our generation will soon have to grapple with. Those problems are not going to be solved by cubicle dwellers who can rattle off their high school test scores—they're going to be solved by the people with the balls to go out and do what they're passionate about.  The world is shaped by the risk takers—and at our age what's a bigger risk than going home to tell your parents you want to change majors or spend a year in Africa? True, there's often nothing scarier than going after the thing you love—but think about the alternative.  The world does not need one more single human who thinks his value is measured by test scores or academic awards. The world will belong to those who know that worth is measured in terms of passion.

Joseph Campbell said "Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls." This four year span is the perfect time to find that bliss.  We're lucky enough to have these four years to learn, explore and mightily screw up.  So try everything. (Except crack. And heroin.) Do things the person you were in high school would never, ever have done.  Make time to take a class in something you know nothing about. Make friends who've had experiences different from yours. Get your heart broken. Take a nap in the sun. Do something that scares you. Forget your test scores, and find your bliss.

Ellen Stuart

Arts Editor

The New Hampshire