As always, summer vacation is over and class has begun.

“Not another year!” students may groan, simultaneously filled with the anxiety and excitement, anticipation and reluctance that always seem to accompany the beginning of the year.  For many of us, September 5, more than January 1, truly marks the coming of the “new year.”  Each and every September we start over, whether we like it or not.  Some things will have changed, while others will have inexorably stayed the same.  The beginning of the new school year is undoubtedly a different sort of experience for every student at George Mason, but it also has a universal significance.  As unoriginal as it may sound, the start of each new school year is also the harbinger of an amazing array of opportunities.

Luckily, at GM, we are presented with choices about almost everything.  We can choose which sports to play, which clubs to join, how much to study, even which classes to sign up for.  Some of these decisions may not matter in the long run, but some of them may actually have an impact on the rest of our lives.  We may stumble upon a surprising interest or talent, or at least learn something that may be truly valuable in the future.  There is much more to school (or there should be, at least) than tests and homework, and we are charged with discovering that.

Each year, we are told to try to “do better” and “try harder.”  Well, it is up to us, the students, to define what doing better and trying harder mean.  Our foremost duty is certainly to ourselves, to discover what interests us and to expand and improve ourselves as students and as individuals.  As our parents so often tell us, our high school days will seem like they flew by when we look back on them as adults.  Right now, though, we have every chance to explore all that GM has to offer, and hopefully have fun and learn along the way.

As sad as the end of summer vacation may be, the beginning of the school year is not without its perks, if we only allow ourselves to be open to them.  And by the time it’s all over on some far-off day in June, hopefully we will all have found a good many things worth leaving the pool and sleeping late for.