BY ERIC ANDERSSON

“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.”

As a self-proclaimed bookworm (and former English major), there are a plenty of pieces of wisdom I’ve come across in literature. The above quote, though, uttered by one Albus Dumbledore, is both one of my personal favourites and one that fits the arbitrary topic I chose for this brief editorial blurb.

I’ve been attending this school for parts of six years now. This is my tenth semester here in total; I’m in my second semester of my second degree. And as, shall we say, a more experienced student, I was predictably, if somewhat jokingly, asked by some first-years during the first couple days of school:

“You’ve been here that long? Wow, you’re absolutely ancient. Got any advice?” (I might be embellishing just a little, but that was the general gist of it.)

Advice! Advice. As I’ve gotten a bit older and advanced through my twenties, I’ve come to realize that, in a lot of situations, advice really isn’t much good at all. We all live such different lives, spin such divergent tales, that trying to give advice is like trying to predict Alberta weather, or trying to predict this year’s Stanley Cup champion (not a Canadian team, you can take that much to the bank!).

However, I do have one piece of advice, for what it’s worth, for students both old and new. And that is…get involved! During my first degree here at Augustana, I definitely feel like I didn’t get involved enough with school activities. There were so many opportunities right in front of me that I just…didn’t take. I had a good time during my first four years here, but I felt like I could have done more, like I could have had a fuller, more enriching experience than I did.

Augustana has its issues, but overall, it’s a really solid community. Go ahead and join a club. Join the choir. Or just establish a solid group of friends. You could even venture out into the wider Camrose community and see what it has to offer. There are literally more opportunities to get involved in the community than I have space to list here.

Whatever you decide to do, just make sure you do something with your time here. However long you’re here, whether you’re loving every minute or longing for the next step…dive in and make the best you can of it.

While you study in these halls, keeping yourself busy, laying down the foundations of your future, don’t forget to live a little.

There’s my advice. Do what you will with it. And enjoy the rest of this issue of the Dag! Oh, and of course…have a great year!

(Originally published September 27, 2019)