Oftentimes you hear people say that college is the best time of their life. I hope this isn’t true, but I’m sure college could give just about any four years a run for its money. As a senior in my last semester, I’ve been fairly reminiscent lately when it comes to my time here as UT. Obviously, college is first and foremost about receiving an education that will benefit you the rest of your life, but there’s a lot you learn and experience in school that’s not picked up in the classroom.

I attended Tennessee’s 88-58 drubbing of Kentucky on Saturday. I sat there at the end of the game as people were filing out, thinking that it was moments like these that really defined a college experience. I’ll forget the majority of what I learned in statistics and Spanish, but I’ll remember the beat down we laid on our top rival about as vividly as I’ll remember walking out into the parking lot of the Mellow Mushroom in March of 2010 and releasing a primal yell after UT advanced past Ohio State in the NCAA tournament to make it to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history. I’ll remember the hard snow my freshman year when my assistant hall director let me onto the roof of my dorm so that we could throw snowballs down onto the students in Presidential Court long after I’ve forgotten how to take derivatives and analyze European colonization of Africa. I’m sure I’ll remember the hilarity of all that is “butt-chugging” far longer than I’ll be able to balance electrons in a redox reaction.

Will any of these experiences at face value really benefit me in the long run? Probably not. I’m not sure how much there is to gain from simply watching a basketball game. But I’m also not really sure the academic counterparts listed will be all that helpful either. It’s easy to point to my academic education and show, factually, what I’ve learned from it. However, the long-term benefits of the experiences that come simply from being a college student are far more important. I’ve learned how to cook, do laundry, appreciate free (or nearly free) sporting events, take joy in life’s simple pleasures, and appreciate doing all of this with friends. I’ve learned how to organize a schedule, work effectively with others, and for most intents and purposes, live on my own. However, I think more than anything, I’ve learned when to take life seriously and when to step back and enjoy it a little.

I don’t think picking up on this in college is the be-all and end-all of maturation in life, but I think it can heavily define our futures. We commonly look at those who have too much fun in college and see how they have issues adapting to the work environment, but we don’t seem to address those at the opposite end of the spectrum. I have worked around too many people in my life who seem to hate their jobs due to the fact that they have donated the entirety of their life to it. They have made it the central point of their existence, and have missed out on all there is to enjoy in this world. I can’t help but imagine that this starts in college. Maybe it’s a gross oversimplification, but I always imagine that they didn’t attend enough basketball games. I’ve taken the necessary steps to make sure that this doesn’t happen to me, and I highly recommend you do the same. I would hate for the beating we’re going to lay on Florida on Feb. 26 to go to waste.

—Hunter Tipton is a senior in microbiology. He can be reached at [email protected].