For any senior, I can imagine that it’s hard not to start getting sentimental over every little thing as graduation approaches.

Before you knew it, it was your last day of classes. If you aren’t going to graduate school, you might have finished the last test you will ever take. You might have even started getting just a little bit sad inside as you swiped into Brandeis for the final time.

And even though it is probably a distant memory now, I hope that before you leave Creighton, you were able to embrace the theme of your Welcome Week from all the way back in August 2011: Imagine. Encounter. Inspire.

I hope you were able to imagine where you want to be a couple of years down the road, picturing how college shaped you to be able to impact others. The community at Creighton is often described as a family, and I definitely feel like a younger sibling to so many different seniors who are saying goodbye to Creighton.

I’ve watched the members of this year’s class apply themselves and give back to others, whether it be through mentoring, community service or research, and it’s hard not to be excited for the Creighton seniors as they start their professional lives. I’ve experienced firsthand the close friendships and guidance as this year’s class gets ready to hand off the baton to mine. These past four years are just the bridge into adulthood, and it isn’t hard to imagine a bright future looking back at the memories and lessons from Creighton.

I also hope that as you graduate you can fondly remember and stay in touch with all the people that you have encountered. Part of what makes Creighton special is the close relationships developed at a small school with small class sizes. The discussions we can have with our classmates inside and outside of class and the active role many professors play in our lives are part of what makes Creighton a special place.

Every walk down the mall is an opportunity to bump into friends and a reminder of the friendly, tight-knit place that Creighton is. The people you meet in college are likely to be the people that come to your wedding, that answer the phone when you need advice, that celebrate your accomplishments with you.

Finally, I hope that you continue to inspire and be inspired. You never really stop learning in life, and every person is someone who can shape you and be shaped by you. There’s a good chance that there’s an underclassman who has been personally inspired by you at some point in his or her college experience and who is grateful for your example. College isn’t meant to be a time to learn some information and be satisfied with the status quo, but a chance to continually desire to be more.

Your class has been through a new university president, a new conference, a revamped business college and sadly just missed having Starbucks on campus. But even through all these changes, the biggest ones in life are still yet to come. These four years helped make you all catalysts for change, and to embrace it throughout life.

On behalf of all the students who will still be here in the fall, I wish you all the best of luck as you venture into that frightening place called the real world. The Creighton family will miss you and is excited to continue the legacy that your class left. Congratulations, class of 2015, and in the words of St. Ignatius, go set the world on fire.