Mom and Dad are gone. With their sage words still ringing in your ears, it’s time for you to get going on your own. Think about why you made this choice. It’s rarely just one thing that impels us to make a decision. It’s often an amalgamation of many that make of the whole and therefore the reason you are now on the threshold of four years that will teach you more lessons than you can even imagine. Think about those reasons and affirm your choice.

Be teachable. Be willing to stumble a little in the learning process. In fact, be willing to fall and fail if necessary. That’s where the biggest lessons are learned and the most progress is made. That speech is given to athletes and business entrepreneurs often but it is true for all of us. Particularly those of us in the performing and media arts. Every audition is a risk. Every new performance, every new film is a risk. If an artist doesn’t take the risk then no audience will be challenged or amused. No boundaries would ever be broken. Shouldn’t it be the same with learning? Whether it’s in the field of our craft or other academic studies? Stepping outside of your comfort zone will increase your knowledge and that’s what you’re here to do.

Let’s assume that you and your roommate/suite mates have organized yourselves to start classes and you’re beginning to feel settled into dorm life. You’re learning to appreciate differences while looking for the core things that will make this first semester or quarter livable. Here’s a reminder that you don’t have to love your roommate. Or even spend a lot of time with her/him but you do need to respect one another. In the life-lessons category you will be learning tolerance, negotiation and the importance of boundaries.

Whatever classes you have chosen for yourself or is being required by your department can now be eagerly awaited. Your parents have already dealt with sticker shock when they were weighing your college tuition bills but few students can imagine the cost of textbooks which often become their responsibility to earn. Not buying textbooks is not an option if you plan to pass your course so I suggest you start purchasing and reading those books. When of my favorite pastimes when I was teaching undergraduate Intro to Theatre courses was to saunter by the line at the bookstore at the end of the quarter to see how many students were selling back books without having even cracked the spine!

Enjoy the first couple of “get acquainted” days. Learn your way around campus. Find the best places to study and the best places to meet friends. If you have a moment or two of feeling homesick, embrace it. You’re an artist. It’s o.k. to feel emotions and missing people and familiar places is normal. Don’t obsess over it though. That’s not healthy. When those feelings come, if those feelings come, get busy. Stay active. Do something fun and new feelings will supplant the old ones. Carpus Diem! There’s a reason this saying graces the halls of higher learning.

So go, seize the day and tomorrow we’ll talk about classroom expectations for acting, dance and musical theater students.