After four years at Quinnipiac University, the class of 2003 will be graduating in May. Some will enter the working world, while others will continue their academic pursuits at graduate school. Some even choose to take time off from the rigors of work and study and spend time traveling and seeing the world.

Many seniors are still in disbelief of the fact that they, too, will be graduating soon.

“It still hasn’t hit me yet that I’m graduating,” said Michele Mancini, a senior psychology major, who will be entering the Masters in Education program here this summer.

Graduating senior Laura Payton has mixed feelings about leaving Quinnipiac.

“It’s exciting and scary at the same time,” she said.

Michael O’Neill, a political science and mass communications major, feels the same way.

“I have a mixture of emotions,” he said. “I am going to miss those professors that have had an impact on me as well as those administrators that I have worked with. [I’ll also miss] my fellow students with whom I have many memories and laughs. However, I am looking forward to using my education and leadership experience to help others.”

Although for most seniors their years at Quinnipiac will soon come to an end, they will carry with them the memories of the times they have spent here for years to come.

Sarah Papsun, a marketing major, feels one of her favorite experiences has been participating in the BIC Leadership Development program.

“It has been an amazing learning experience where I developed leadership, mediation, and management skills that have served me will in my student studies, professional career, and personal life. The program has evolved my thinking, and improved my life.”

Payton will carry many memories with her, but said she will mostly remember.

“The orange chairs in the library, sitting on the lawn when it was nice outside, the fun you have in small groups in class, and the support of the teachers,” she said.

Many of the soon-to-be college graduates already have career plans for the near future. Sarah Pipicelli, a gerontology major, said that she “will be attending Iona College in New Rochelle, New York in the fall to get [her] Masters of Science in health services administration.”

However before she leaves, she will travel to Spain, where she will stay for a month.

“I want to relax a bit before I have to write papers again,” she said.

O’Neill is also anticipating his future career. “I am waiting to hear back from AmeriCorps Vista Campus Compact, a program in which I would work at a university with college students and members of the community in planning community service activities,” he said. “I hope to get my Master’s at the same time in higher education and work at a college campus with college students.”

After spending the past four years of their lives here, the seniors are able to reflect on their time spent in college and offer advice to next fall’s incoming freshmen.

Kevin Bickhart, a psychobiology major, said, “College is a growing experience; I have grown more in four years than I had in the eighteen years prior to college.”

“The best way to feel comfortable and make the most out of your college years is by getting involved,” O’Neill said. “Don’t hesitate to make an impact on this campus, by doing so you will meet friends for life and start a journey of a lifetime of memories.”

“If I could give the incoming freshman advice, it would be to get involved with either a sport or anTorganization within the school, because they are fun, and help you relax and get your mind off school work (not to mention it builds up your future resume),” says Mancini.

“I would tell them to treasure every moment they experience here. It is so precious, and time goes by so quickly. But my best memories are from freshman year, and they seem like yesterday.”