And our second Senior Wisdom of the day brings you tips on how to stop school from getting in the way of your education and more!

Name, School, Major, Hometown: Francisco Alvidrez, CC, Architecture, Ramstein, Germany

Claim to fame: that guy in Latenite, literally never wears shoes, causing people to have the shocking realization that I’m nowhere near as old as they think I am, oh and listened to podcasts while sitting next to my professor in LitHum

Where are you going? To Hell, but hopefully with a pitstop or two before that

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2023?

Don’t let your school get in the way of your education. Yes, we’ve all heard this but I never learned nearly as much in the classroom as I learned out of them. The clubs you’re in, the people you meet, the media you consume, the fucking city you live in – all will teach you more deeply than anything the core could ever attempt to do. Take your passions and run with them. Find what interests you and just make it work. Go to class (LITERALLY GO TO CLASS – all my biggest problems in college could be solved by me just going to fucking class) and get what you want out of it. TL;DR – youre paying to go here and dont let Columbia™️ dictate how you learn.

Let yourself feel joy. Columbia stress culture will ravage you and you will hate it as much as you will unfortunately be a part of it. You will feel like the work ahead of you is insurmountable and that all the responsibilities you’ve given yourself were a mistake. Every second is going to tick by faster than you want it to. But you are attending college in New York City with some of the most incredible people you will ever meet in your life. When everything weighs on you realize this experience will only ever happen once. So when you find yourself in one of those once in a lifetime moments and you even try to use the excuse that you have a paper to write or some shit like that, stop yourself, take a breath, and live your fucking life. College is so much more than the piece of paper you get in the end and finding joy anywhere you can and reminding yourself that it’s OKAY TO FEEL THAT JOY will help put your time here in a much healthier perspective.

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. I was an architecture major and I did theatre and a bunch of other stuff so you can 100% I didn’t follow that advice for a long time. I never slept, barely ate, what is water, and lived out of my backpack – and I s u f f e r e d. Nothing in college is so important that we have to jeopardize our health. I realized that too late. This is the same for mental health!!! Almost even more so!!!! It’s so easy to recognize the symptoms of the flu or exhaustion but when your mental health starts to slip it’s so!!! hard!!!! to!!!! admit!!! it!!!!! Own up to your health and take care of it however you can. Do not belittle your own struggles/issues. They are yours and they’re not to be compared to anybody else’s.

“Back in my day…” Lerner had mailboxes, Cannon’s existed, CrackDel was still talked about, and Lehman was a building, not just a library

Favorite Columbia controversy? Columbia cares about Minorities

Justify your existence in 30 words or fewer: Just living long enough to pet an otter, everything else has been an unintentional perk

What was your favorite class at Columbia? The Divine Comedy I and II taught by Teolinda Barolini. Professor Barolini deserves every recognition and praise and her class is much more than a study on the Divine Comedy. Truly eyeopening and an absolute must, if possible.
Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? Both can upset my stomach but I’m too poor to buy all that Lactaid so cheese it is

Whom would you like to thank? I would personally like to thank everyone who ever saw me get into an altercation on the subway and did nothing to help me. Each and every one of you made me the strong person I am today. And I guess on one serious note, ty to the ones who took the time to listen, care, and fill my life with love. Blessed be the mystery of love. Oh and thank you to the guy who rides his bike around campus blasting “La Vie en Rose”. You highkey mean a lot to me.

One thing to do before graduating: L A T E N I T E

Any regrets? Obviously, but at this point just gotta keep moving forward.