Many people talk about the “Senior Slide” as students finish their final year of college, I prefer to talk about the “perma-smile”. 
Students have worked so hard for their grades. They have learned how to survive with messy roommates, impossible project assignments, harsh weather, homesickness, and the stress of a job search. In the last few weeks of the Spring semester, can you blame them for being insufferably happy?
As these students count down the days until they graduate (it’s 22, by the way) – all of their hard work has paid off. Although nobody knows what it is, they are ready to join the “real world” As they strike out on their own, hopefully, the Career Culture that we have created on campus will propel them into their first destination.
The educational value of many the things the students have done may not be apparent to them. There are a lot of technical skills learned in the classroom, but also a lot of other skills learned outside of the class that will help them succeed. Late nights completing a project before a deadline, networking during a lunch, performing a presentation on a topic in front of their peers, entering a contest, or volunteering their talents to help someone else — these life lessons will serve them well.
To me, the perma-smile is a result of knowing that all the hard work is just beginning but the pay will be much better!