Journeys. Paths. Goals. Accomplishments. Careers. If you tried to play a drinking game where you took a shot of..um, espresso every time you heard one of these words during graduation week, you probably wouldn’t make it to the stage. Instead, The Runner is going to write the most straightforward editorial we can without the fluff every graduation speaker pads their speeches with.

We offer our congratulations to the graduating class of 2016 and a bit of unwarranted advice:

Don’t stop learning. Many feel that getting to graduate means their days of research papers, late nights and critiqued assignments are over. They’re not.

No matter what lies ahead, the ability to evolve as a person is always going to be out there. There’s always going to be a book you haven’t read, a contact you haven’t made, a country you haven’t been to and an argument you haven’t researched quite enough. There’s going to be potential for growth with every day that passes and just because you’ve hung your tassel on your keychain and screwed on the CSUB Alumni novelty plate to your vehicle, doesn’t mean you get to stop taking notes or thinking critically.

The best part of all this is that without the scheduling constraints of a weekly schedule, you get to do these things at your own pace and how they fit within your own life. Even if your novel, computer program or scientific research is going to take you five, ten, even twenty years, the time you spend on it will change you the same way your time at CSU Bakersfield has if you refuse to be stagnant.

Don’t be a passive participant in your own life. Enjoy the journey whatever your path may be, and turn your goals into accomplishments and then into careers. That was five shots of espresso if anyone is still counting.