This is the beginning of a new semester, and opportunity is knocking for all. It’s up to us what we do with it. First year students have been handed a blank transcript.

Over the next four or five years you can fill it out any way you want.

It can be a 4.0 or a 2.1.

Every class you take will offer you the opportunity for success or failure.

The difference is in what you decide to do from this day forth.

Sophomores and juniors may feel this is just another year in the mix of things. It’s not!

This year hasn’t been lived yet and is as fresh a start as for which one could hope.

You can meet new friends, get better grades or involve yourself in new clubs and organizations. It’s up to you!

Even seniors, who have written most of their transcript already, have the opportunity to begin anew.

If you have done great in the past, then you know what needs to be done in order to maintain that.

If you have done poorly up until now, then you know what NOT to do if you want to succeed.

Either way, this final chapter in your college education can either be a bang or a fizzle. The choice is yours.

Iowa State has outstanding academic support programs, over 500 student organizations, recreational services, workout facilities, an excellent library for research, career service support, top of the line technical equipment and an excellent staff to help you succeed in almost anything.

Even with all these opportunities, not everyone will take advantage of them; in fact, most won’t.

But everyone CAN take advantage of them if they so choose. ISU provides people with the facilities and the potential to act and achieve. Too many people just don’t act.

Before you decide to discard these opportunities, however, think about how much such things are worth.

Worth? That’s right, these opportunities aren’t free; they carry an enormous actual and exchanged cost.

The high tuition payments everyone always complains about don’t just enroll you in classes, they also give you access to all of the before-mentioned facilities and services associated with the university, and many more.

That means you are paying thousands of dollars for these services.

In addition to the financial costs of these services comes the opportunity cost. You are investing a minimum of four years of your life in your college experience.

Think of all that you could do with that time and realize you are trading all of those things for the opportunities you are being given at ISU.

By being here, you already have decided that you are going to make this huge investment.

The next step is to capitalize on it. If you were putting your money into the stock market, wouldn’t you do everything in your power to make sure the investment paid off?

Here at ISU, you are not only investing money but a big chunk of your life — make sure it pays off.

What it all comes down to is the decisions you make and the actions you take. This new year provides you the opportunity to take those actions that will make you successful or unsuccessful. But by doing nothing, you choose failure.

If you don’t know what actions need to be taken, then contact someone who can point you in the right direction.

Maybe it’s a counselor, maybe a friend, maybe someone with whom you work.

Tap into their brains, find out the steps they take to make themselves successful in college, and then emulate those steps.

Your story hasn’t been written yet, and the time that lies in front of you is perhaps the greatest gift of all.

After this semester has passed, you will see the results of your life story from the past.

Just remember that right now you’re in the writing process, and as the author of your life you can make it anything you want.

Every decision you make in taking, preparing and studying for classes will determine whether you capitalize on this opportunity.

Every day you use the resources available to you will help you gain interest on your investment.

This coming semester, this coming year or the rest of your time at this university can become a huge pay-off or an enormous burden. The choice is up to you.

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Jonathan Miller is a senior in political science from Marion.