‘Cat in the Stacks: Spring, Forward
I’m William Repetto, a first-year graduate student at Villanova University. This is the “‘Cat in the Stacks” column. I’m your new ‘cat. I’ll be posting about college life, about learning and growing here at Villanova, and, of course, about the Falvey’s role.
This time last semester, we talked a little bit about your new school year’s resolutions. We looked at how accomplishments come in various forms for students at different stages of their college careers. We now find ourselves halfway through the school year, so, while our professional counterparts set their new year’s resolutions, we must decide how we’re going to finish out the last half of our two-part odyssey.
It may be too late for a new school year’s resolution, but another semester offers fresh chances to set revised goals. As far as I can tell, these goals may be revised in two separate ways – either revised upward or revised downward. If you find yourself revising your goals upward, then you have met your expectations of last semester and find yourself ready to take the next step. If you’re revising downward, however, do not be discouraged; sometimes students bite off a lot more than they can chew and get bogged down either academically, professionally, or emotionally.
The sophomores and juniors among us know this all too well. I mean, the first couple of semester weren’t too bad, right? You can surely pack on an internship, a serious relationship, and a second major. Perhaps some of you found out that you really can do it all, but, if you are at all like I was, you recognized that trying to do everything spreads your energy too thin. You might consider revising your goals toward prioritizing those activities most beneficial to your most important future goals.
Seniors find themselves moving into the dorms or into the off-campus house for the last time in their undergraduate careers. I remember the bittersweet feeling very well: excitement at the thought of moving on to the next step of one’s life, coupled with the fear of leaving behind that lifestyle established over the last three and a half years. Goals range for seniors from starting a career and moving out of mom and dad’s house to just finishing strong to boost that GPA (or perhaps it’s about time to set aside some of that schedule for some serious socializing).
Freshman, of course, have this second half of the year to revise their first impressions. If first semester didn’t exactly go as planned, then you still have this second half of the year to improve your academic standing. If you surpassed expectations, then you now have the opportunity to challenge yourself with maybe an added extracurricular, taking the next step to learn that new language, or starting to lay the foundation for adding a minor. You still have time to consider these options, but ask any of your older friends and colleagues: the time flies by.
(Time flies: before you know it, the Falvey will look like this again.)
We here at the Falvey Memorial Library have set some goals of our own for this semester. While we’re disappointed that we can’t open up a brand new reading room for you or share the excitement surrounding an election every semester, this semester still holds some exciting events here at the Falvey.
We will be commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution with a display and an exhibit. We’ll once again be hosting speakers as a part of the English Department’s Literary Festival – including Brit Bennet and Reginald Dwayne Betts. We’ll also be welcoming a new class of Falvey Scholars and celebrating Villanova’s 175th birthday along with the rest of the university.
(Russian Revolution banner from Home Before the Leaves Fall)
In other words, we’ll be revising our goals right along with you. While we remain dedicated to providing you with the most up-to-date resources and spaces available to advance your studies, we’ll be striving this semester to provide interactive and relevant events to enrich the academic, literary, and historical culture of the university.
A crucial component of revising any goals involves dialogue. Large companies hold important meetings to establish the year’s objectives. As you plan your semester, you should take into account the advice of professors, parents and friends; they might have an interesting perspective on your goals and ambitions. We here at the Falvey would love to hear your goals, and would love your feedback on our own – start the dialogue on Facebook or by tweeting us @FalveyLibrary.
Article by William Repetto, a graduate assistant on the Communications and Marketing Team at the Falvey Memorial Library. He is currently pursuing an MA in English at Villanova University.
