You may have left campus, but the wisdom endures! Next, hear from a four-time SW nominee. The KCST director and PBK recipient is known for packing 1020 with theatre folk on Wednesdays, among other achievements.

Name, School: Mikhaela Mahony, BC!

Claim to Fame: President of KCST, writer of long emails with only a little genuine content, lover of CAPITAL LETTERS, otherwise known as that girl with the loud voice in the polka dots yelling “WHOOSH” and “Where’s Kyle?” on Low late at night and outside EC early in the morning.

Where are you going? Well FIRST I’m going to Paris and then backpacking around for a bit. Then Massachusetts to do MORE Shakespeare, and then returning to the city. Was this question referring to jobs, though? Are we talking about JOBS? HA. Who needs one? (I do.)

Three Things you learned at Columbia:

1 Never ever EVER say, “Hey, [good friend of mine], let’s go to Butler! We’ll study together!” You will NOT study together. You will gchat or pass notes or leave the study rooms altogether and sit in the lobby and talk all night long. It will be 3 in the morning, and you will have accomplished nothing. Alas. Friendship.

2 Listen to your friends (they love you) but only sometimes. No one knows your life better than you do.

3 There is nothing in the world more beautiful than eating HamDel on a Wednesday at 5 in the morning on the Steps. The lobby of the Law School comes close second. Dear Janitor, I’m sorry I dropped all the lettuce from my sandwich that one time. Thank you for being so nice about it.

“Back in my day…” La Negrita had ONE name, and it was “La Negrita.” And if you were nice to the bartender you got control of the iPod, and could put on whatever you wanted. Made for some random playlists but OH MAN IT WAS THE BEST.

Justify your existence in 30 words or fewer: Why be quiet? Loud music is always better. So are loud colors. I was once given a microphone, and had it taken away again because my voice is made of TITANIUM STEEL.

Is the War on Fun over? Who won? Any war stories? The War on Fun will never be over, and that’s the best part of EVERYTHING. Because think about it: Who would Harry Potter be without Voldemort? Might Ducks without Iceland? Ernie without Bert? You’ve GOT to have a worthy adversary so that you keep FIGHTING and keep drinking in inappropriate places and dancing on rooftops. Columbia will always be there to tell us when we can and cannot play Frisbee by flying red and green flags. And WE will always be there to REBEL against color coded nonsense! Because rebellion is just more fun.

Would you rather give up cheese or oral sex? Annie’s Mac for Life! I owe my EXISTENCE to this woman/bunny! I would literally lose my will to live without any and all forms of cheese.

Advice for the Class of 2015: There’s a rule in theatre and in improv that WHATEVER YOU DO, you have to say yes. Because it’s wicked lame if you’re doing some sort of scene, and your scene partner says, “We’re on the moon!” and then you say, “No we’re not. You’re crazy.” WHAT A TERRIBLE SCENE. So instead you have to say, “Oh man! I forgot my moon boots! What a fashion oversight!” or something significantly better than that because that was terrible BUT THE POINT IS: When you arrive at college, you may feel overwhelmed (or o’erwhelmed. SHAKESPEARE, GUYS.) or nervous or afraid. But there are incredible people here, and incredible restaurants and bars and shows, and I think my advice is never to say no to these things. There will always be a reason NOT to go, but I guarantee you that I have cherished all my late and sleepless nights, when I should have been writing That Paper. And I haven’t regretted a single one.

Any regrets? UMM…I wish I’d climbed up to more roofs.