Time to get wise. In honor of the last Monday of classes, we give you Milo Inglehart, who will be living with snake named in honor of  Stevie Nicks.

Milo Inglehart

Name, Hometown, School, Major: Milo Inglehart, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Columbia College, Sociology

Claim to fame: Trying to get people to talk about power, privilege, identity and oppression through personal experience a whole lot, organizing some queer things, and keeping multiple houseplants alive all year long.

Where are you going? Back to Butler to finish my thesis, and later to an apartment in Brooklyn with those three thriving houseplants, two lovely roommates, and a snake named after Stevie Nicks.

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2018?

1. Learn some history—I’m writing my thesis on the 2007 hunger strike that happened here, and exploring this school’s activist history has been pretty fascinating. Taking the time to learn some of the history of this institution can be useful in a lot of ways, and can help give context to your experiences on campus and how you want to spend the next four years here. On a less Columbia/Barnard history specific note, try to take advantage of some of the amazing classes here to learn about histories you may have missed out on in high school, especially the kinds that challenge some of the narratives we often take for granted. This can be especially meaningful if you haven’t seen a lot of history focused on people like you in classes before. I got to take a class on trans folks in the US during my senior year thanks to a fantastic visiting professor, and it was a wonderful experience both intellectually and personally.

2. Try to practice critical love—For yourself, for others, for institutions…please be kind to yourself, while also remembering to be thoughtful about the ways your life impacts others. Interpersonally, love and appreciate others, but don’t put anyone on a pedestal (it’s inevitably disappointing). On a similar note, appreciate the people, ideas and experiences that Barnard and Columbia can introduce you to, but be thoughtful about what they are doing and how they are doing it. Try to remember that pushing things to be better can be a sign of love.

3. Accept change—(I was going to say embrace, but that’s a lot to ask.) The next four years are probably going to be full of change, and that can be both destabilizing and wonderful. You’re going to make new friends and lose touch with some, commit to ideologies and relationships and haircuts that you will probably regret, but please try not to be afraid of those changes or the possible messiness they can bring. It’s almost impossible to know what you’ll be like coming out of this, but please allow yourself to be challenged and affected by these experiences, while also trying to be gentle with yourself during the process.

“Back in my day…” SPEaK existed, Four Loko was making CAVA work overtime, QHouse was a cramped Ruggles suite, and I thought seniors had everything figured out.

Justify your existence in 30 words or fewer: I keep trying.

Write your most memorable note from the field: During the ROTC debates my freshman year, I facilitated my first ROOTEd discussion, and ROTC was the topic. We invited student groups involved in the debates, including LUCHA and the MilVets, and things were going fine when we heard a pounding outside. A group of drunk first-year men singing the national anthem burst in, the leader draped in an American flag, others in patriotic boxer shorts or pj pants. They paraded around the room singing until they finished the anthem, and then were yelled at by an extremely angry veteran. I am still in awe of my senior co-facilitator who managed to get them to either leave or join us in discussing the topic (to their credit, some of the ones who stayed had thoughtful comments).

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? Debates on puritan legacies and the conditions of the dairy industry aside, I think I’ve got to go with the fact that one raises your blood pressure and one lowers it.

One thing to do before graduating: Make a huge mistake and learn from it. Most of us seem to be here with perilously pumped up, fragile egos. Messing up doesn’t mean you’re not smart enough, or not good enough, or otherwise inadequate in some way. It’s an opportunity to learn. So, hear your criticism, think about your mistakes, and learn to take something meaningful from them. (Note: this does not mean wallowing in them.)

Any regrets? Not calling home enough. Not always realizing how I was impacting others. Not getting on the roof of Butler or Low. Not understanding for a long time how important sleep is to my health and happiness. And also those times I focused on my regrets too much, wallowing without learning from them and being able to move on a better person, as I hope I will be able to do now with Columbia.