Last week was my fourth and last Spring Break, probably ever. I don’t know of many occupations that allow a week-long hiatus just to enjoy the weather, but if you happen to hear of one that pays more than an educator’s salary, let me know.

ISU Spring Break is great for many reasons. It always falls during the same week as St. Patrick’s Day, which is a great excuse to get all your friends together and celebrate for no apparent reason.

However, my birthday tends to fall during the first few days we return from Spring Break, so I celebrated early this year and had an amazing Spring Break. Plus, the weather was more than gracious.

I hope you all took advantage and spent some time outside while it lasted. Rumor is that snow is hitting Ames in the not-so-distant future.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of getting involved in Lent, even though it may just be to crack a habit or save some money. The goal I claimed — going to class, every class period — suffered a bit before Spring Break. I had calculated that each class period probably costs you somewhere between $15 and $19.

Each class period. Think about that.

I’m not going to drone on and on and try to be your mother. Go to class. Change your undies. That’s all stuff you can do on your own.

What I hope to do now is inspire.

I came across an old column I wrote for the Iowa State Daily a few years ago, though it published on a date that most students were more worried about settling into their summer lives.

I wrote it after I attended my older brother’s graduation. It featured an inspiring speech by Heidi Hohmann, director of landscape architecture, about choosing a journey that’s your own and not just the end result of a college degree.

“When I graduated into a different recession 20-odd years ago, the dim job prospects in molecular biophysics led me to teach English in China,” she said at the commencement.

“At the time, I thought I was wandering far astray from my goals, but my diversion eventually led me to landscape architecture, a surprising and satisfying destination,” Hohmann said. “By now you’ve learned that holding the pencil too tightly sucks the life right out of a drawing. Well, the same is true of trying to control your existence. If you can embrace the inevitable lumps life gives you, if you can release your white-knuckle grip on the wheel, I guarantee that you’ll embark on a more interesting, if perhaps less linear, journey.”

This struck me hard, as a journalist. In my first few years at Iowa State, we were told multiple times over that print media is a dying profession, and if we wanted to survive, we would have to transform ourselves and our careers multiple times in the next few decades to keep up with the technological advances.

Now, as a senior in my last semester of courses, its meaning is finally hitting me. I’m graduating with an emphasis in print media and magazine journalism, but I also enjoy photography and some web design, as well as event marketing and planning. I love finding cheaper ways to put something together.

I also love horses, though, and had always planned to write for an equine journal or magazine. But as I progress toward graduation, I am finding more and more things I am interested in that take me away from my journalism roots.

At first I thought it was a disaster, meaning that my degree is wasted. Now I see it as I see the coming spring: a rebirth, a new opportunity, a pencil that can’t be clutched too tightly.

You’re all so close to finishing this school year. Only a few more weeks now. Spring Break has come and gone. Your new spring — and new beginning — is here, right now. This isn’t the end. It’s just the beginning.

And so, I encourage you all to finish strong this semester; don’t let senioritis get you down. Work hard and don’t be afraid to take a few risks. It might just lead you to where you want to be.