I think at some point as an underclassman, I had thought about this before. I loved it when upperclassmen reached out to talk to me or even poured into me. But there were times where I thought, “Man, if only there were some more great senior/upperclassmen leadership, then this campus would be amazing. I, as an underclassman, would feel the strength to grow into this place as it invests more fully into me through upperclassmen students.”  Now that I am a senior, my perspective has drastically changed.

There are some things underclassmen may not understand about seniors because of their vantage point. For the understanding of sophomores, juniors, and freshmen, can I shed light on the conception of seniors showing up to events? It is not because we don’t love this school or we think we are better then you guys. We were probably super involved in activities in the same way when we were in your year of school as underclassmen. Yes, we went to events. Maybe we even were super involved year after year. Now, we usually spend time investing in those deep friendships instead of attending those events. Those past events even brought our current friendships closer. So did we lose our school spirit or spiritual fervor or something?

No, life simply got more complicated and more drastic. What you may not know is that a large majority of seniors are full of some deep stress. They are pondering over questions like finances, future jobs, which state should they live in… thinking something like “What happened to all my college friends?”

Another known thing, as students progress in their schooling, is the increasing difficulty of classes. Professors no longer keep tabs on whether you are doing the homework anymore, but your agenda is full with all these large assignments. A professor might say, “Students, so this is a 400 level course and you will be required to write a 10 page paper, a 6 page midterm, six 3 page responses on the two books you are reading, and an out of class group project on how your profession actually works in the marketplace.”  

Many people may think upperclassmen are so seclusive because they always sit by themselves. Well in reality, we walk into the cafeteria and say to ourselves, “Wow…I know no one anymore. What happened to all my school mates?”. Then we remember that half of them graduated last semester, another third are living off campus, and others are simply tired of the cafeteria food by now and will probably buy food or eat off campus. Not to mention the rest that are off at placements for social work, business, and education. There are a few remnant students left who we actually know well anymore. Sorry, it’s not that we don’t want to sit with you, it’s just we are slightly lonely and are comforted by the few students that we actually still know fairly well.  When all of our energy is spent on our current life problems and with the future, it is hard to reach out when we realize we will probably not see the underclassmen again after this year.

Likewise, we think things like, “Wow…I’m going to have to live as an adult in less than a year.” Frankly, all of this makes us feel very similar to how we did back in our senior year of high school: afraid, excited, baffled, stunned, overwhelmed, overjoyed, procrastinating, striving, and persevering for a way of life that will be so new that we don’t even know how to prepare sometimes. Be patient with us. If you can, pray for us as we make these big decisions.  Some, but very few seniors, are deeply prepared and have made those decisions already by this point. They understand where they are going to work, why they want to work there, at what salary they are willing to work for, and what part of the country they desire to live in while working.

How about that relationship thing? You may be surprised that some of us who are “still” single, have already dated once or twice before. Now we are waiting either for a better time, for God to work, or to grow closer to God realizing how sinful and ungodly or immature and unready we were in our first relationships and currently need time for healing.  Others are in serious dating relationships now or they are engaged. For those seniors who’ve already set the wedding date, they are putting all the time that they use to put for friends and Netflix into now planning for a wedding.

Surprisingly, a wedding by spring really means trying to get wedding planners, materials, and RSVP’s from many super busy people. A large amount who may be non-responsive relatives and long time friends they haven’t seen in five years or more and try to get them to come to their wedding day. There are a lot of things that go into being grown up. But believe me, some of us would love to stay longer in this young community of believers, but there are also those who are super ready to go out into a new stage of life. As Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the sun”. Again, please pray for this transition.

Sure, we still watch Netflix, play games together, see our favorite sports game together, or watch a movie. But now those times are so few and far between. They lose place in the amount of other things that are going on amidst our daily lives of scheduling commitments, questions, worries, anxieties, or even dreads about the future.To the underclassmen, we love you guys as fellow siblings in Christ. It’s just really hard sometimes to reach out when we have so much on our plates already. Not to further mention that our motivation and drive for academics is near its end. We are tired of the usual lap around the track and have lost the inspiring excitement of new things on campus. For us, many of it is old news. Although, you will see random excitement from us over the littlest of things and this you cannot fully understand yet, and that’s ok.

So when you see those seniors who reach out, lead things, and are super involved, know that it is because of motivation, a strong heart, good habits, and goals that were formed deep within during their underclassmen years that kept this character, hope, and passion going. All of this reminds me of the Parable of the Sower in Luke 8:4-15, the seed that yielded mature fruit to a hundred fold was the one who heard the word, held fast to it in an honest and good heart, and bore the fruit with patience. So, sow your seeds well your first few years and you will reap well in your latter ones here at Cairn. It is very rare that you get to your senior year and start to change who you are, but God is always faithful to those who are contrite and willing to change.

As underclassmen, you are currently finding and forming who you are as young independent and young adults who look to be interdependent with one another on campus. Oh, it’s scary, but it’s totally worth all of the adventure. Have fun, give your all, and enjoy it.  I know I did, and I have some wonderful memories! So I hope this helps you understand, why we as seniors may not seem to be around much. But I also hope, that this helps you prepare and gives you hope for your next few years while here at Cairn. These years will seem shorter than you think, but they will and can have the potential to shape you into a faithful child of God that is full of love for His Character.

   Your Older Bro in Christ,

    Caleb Bishop