As the first weekend of school comes upon us, we wait patiently for the first football game and for time to spend with friends who are finally all back at school.

The first weekend of school can be really exciting. For freshmen, you are in a new place with new people and you are doing everything you can to fit in. For returning students, you are celebrating being at Iowa State again after spending a summer away from school. No matter how long you have been here, there is one important thing to remember: be a responsible adult.

Now that we are in college and out of range of being punished by our parents, we tend to act out and stretch our legs a little bit by doing things we wouldn’t normally get away with. While it is great to put your newfound independence to use, we should keep in mind that just because we don’t live at home anymore, doesn’t mean that there aren’t any rules.

The first time that students tend to completely forget about authority is when tailgating. It is no secret on this campus that students tailgate for mostly one thing: drinking. While drinking is all fun and games when you are 21 or older, it is only fun until you get caught when you are under the age of 21. There is no point in preaching to students and telling them not to drink underage because people are going to do it anyway no matter how many times it has been said.

If you are going to drink underage, do it in moderation so that when you go out to the tailgates and to the football games, you have less of a chance of picking up a ticket for minor in possession. Cops are no dummies; if they see a student stumbling over themselves, they are going to more than likely stop you and check out the situation. If you can still walk like a fairly sober person, you probably have less of a chance of getting picked up by police.

This may seem like common sense, but every year there is that one kid that is escorted out of the stadium for either sneaking alcohol in or being a belligerent drunk in the stands. We used the word “kid” to describe that kind of person because that is how that person acts, when really the majority of students that are in college are over the age of 18.

We are adults. Young adults, yes, but adults nonetheless. We are going to make mistakes and we are going to slip up. But for the most part, we should do our best to act our age when we are in social situations.

It is easy to get caught up in the rush and the hype of the first weekend of school, but spending the first weekend of school in jail does not put you on the best track for the rest of the year. The last place anybody wants to spend his or her Saturday night is in the drunk tank. Be responsible and party socially rather than be the kid who is puking under the beer pong table. It should be your goal this weekend to not be that kid.

This first weekend of school is a great time to have fun and spend the weekend with friends and family while worshiping Iowa State’s most popular religion: football. No matter what you are doing this weekend, the most important thing is to try to stay safe.