By Jake NussbaumBUSINESS MANAGER

I’m not quite sure how to start this article. For those that know me, this is a very unusual occurrence. I tend to be a bit opinionated, but as I sit here in CV Starr Hall I’m stumped. How do you sum up everything you have learned in four years of college in one small article?

(40 minutes later)-—I am almost positive the answer is you can’t. So instead of spending an entire page summarizing my Hofstra life, I’m going to go the more cliched route and take this time to thank some people I have encountered along the way while also imparting some wisdom to those that continue reading from this point on.

I think the most important thing I have learned at Hofstra is that you control your own potential for success. As students, we tend to get caught up in blaming the circumstances and people around us for our failures when in reality none of that really matters. How well you do is dependent almost entirely upon you and you alone, so don’t fall into the trap of crediting luck for your success or blaming other people for your failures.

You control your own destiny. It’s both our greatest privilege and our greatest burden.

With that in mind I’d like to take a moment to thank the many professors who helped me get to this point here at Hofstra. I’ve had some terrific educators and some awful ones, but overall each experience was useful and I wouldn’t go back and change any of them.

A special shout out to Professor Smagler, Professor Marino, Professor McMellon, Dean Cornog, Professor Doubleday, and Professor Bochner. I have learned something from every class at Hofstra, but in these special cases what I learned went above and beyond what was simply on the syllabus.

This is the perfect opportunity to stop and impart my second piece of unsolicited advice-—always keep in mind that professors are human beings like the rest of us.

Yes they have a job to do, but just like us they have good days and bad days and in some cases good semesters and bad semesters. No matter what you think of a certain professor I guarantee if you put the effort in to reach out to him or her outside of class you’ll see a different side of the professor you once thought was evil.

Now that this article has already ballooned to 500 words, I’m going to conclude with what’s most difficult for me: saying goodbye to everyone here at The Chronicle (both past and present). To say I’ll miss this paper would be a profound understatement.

Almost every memory I have of Hofstra seems to come back to that small brick-laden closet we call on office in the student center. It’s where I not only made some of my closest friends, but also where I met some of the brightest people I have ever encountered.

There are certain things textbooks and professors can’t teach you, and for the last four years The Hofstra Chronicle has filled those voids. It has taught me how to be a professional, how to deal with those that disagree with you, and maybe most importantly how to deal with the unexpected.

I’ve had some of my angriest, funniest, smartest, dumbest, most interesting, and most boring experiences in that office and as I leave Hofstra I can’t help but miss every single one of them.

It seems ridiculous to think that one small club can change someone’s life, but I can happily say The Hofstra Chronicle has changed mine.

Thank you to everyone here at Hofstra, it will forever hold a special place in my heart.

“Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself.” – From “Wear Sunscreen” article by Mary Schmick

The views and opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section are those of the authors of the articles. They are not an endorsement of the views of The Chronicle or its staff. The Chronicle does not discriminate based on the opinions of the authors.