In writing my final goodbye, I feel I should leave you with some sort of advice about making the most of your time at College of DuPage. But I won’t.

I know I took advantage of the resources COD provides, and I’m so thankful for that, but you’ve heard that rant plenty of times. I felt it important to touch on something I’ve found to be crucial in my college years: spontaneity.

I was committed to Michigan State as a senior in high school, only to chicken out on May 1 and decide to attend COD. I promised myself it would only be a year- maybe even just one semester. I just needed to buy some time to mentally prepare myself to leave home. This was my first spontaneous decision.

From this decision I found the Courier, a place I’ve called home for the past two years. Applying was another spontaneous decision; I swore I’d take a break from journalism, worn out from my whirlwind of a senior year. But I applied on a whim and was offered an editor position, something I knew I couldn’t turn down.

It was here I dug deep into multiple possibilities, from writing music reviews to reporting on former President Robert Breuder’s dismissal. I embraced my passion for music, and I found a new passion in the adrenaline rush that comes with reporting breaking news. The Courier offered me an outlet to explore any and every possibility I wished to adventure into. I even tried Tinder and indoor skydiving thanks to the encouragement of some staff hooligans. My Courier assignments became as meaningful as my schoolwork; the people as meaningful as my family, all because of a decision I swore I wouldn’t make.

I began to notice a pattern: the more spontaneous my decisions, the greater the outcome. I took this a step further in my schoolwork. I took an online class, knowing I had never been the “classroom type.” I found an easier way to learn and a medium that actually made me like doing homework. I began taking the majority of my classes online, and my GPA began to rise dramatically. I developed a newfound confidence in my academic capabilities, which led me to the most spontaneous decision of all: applying to New York University.

Now, I didn’t commit to NYU, but I did, through this process, find the perfect fit for me just down the street at The New School, a college awarded “least athletic campus in the country,” and primarily driven by art and creativity-inspired projects. Here I’ve found a major that will encompass all of the passions I’ve come to embrace at the Courier. Moving to New York City is something I’d never dreamt of doing if I hadn’t begun to make my decisions believing that each, no matter how crazy, has a greater benefit than you can see upfront.

The moral of my story: don’t overthink your decisions. Listen to your gut, and embrace whatever feels right. Don’t be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone. If I had made all of the decisions I thought I was supposed to make, I would have been at a Big 10 school, most likely settling for a major I pretended to like. I might have a nice group of friends, but they wouldn’t be my Courier family. Making the decision to go to COD was something I never thought I’d do. But I did. And I couldn’t have chosen a better path.

My advice to you is to never forget that your decisions are your own. Your friends and family may have an idea of what is right for you, but at the end of the day, you are the only one who must live with the outcome. So cut your hair, or dramatically change the direction of your life. I’ve done both, and so far I’ve turned out alright. Don’t be afraid to be a little spontaneous. You never know where it will take you.

A big thank you to our graphics editor Joseph for the beautiful illustration of me, and the rest of my Courier staff for being so incredible from day one. I love you all.