As my senior year is drawing to a close, I have often thought of how one of my communications professors described Penn State and the State College community as the Good Ship Happy Valley.

As graduation nears, we are faced with making many complicated choices.

So, bare with me as I use this metaphor to explain my experiences and what I have learned here at Penn State. State College has been a ship we have put on in many ways, but it had to dock at some point.

This metaphorical story can help to illustrate our college story, so humor me as I tell this tale.

Now, it's necessary for us to make choices that will determine the course of the next few years of our lives, just as we had to do four years ago.

The questions that we have to ask ourselves now are just a little different. Instead of asking ourselves about what major we'll pursue, we're looking at our calendar to see what time would be best for our next job interview.

As one trip is coming to an end, the "real world" beckons.

Like most seniors, I hope to place my feet on dry land rather than take an unexpected ocean bath at the completion of my Happy Valley tour (they've already soaked me for enough tuition money).

Sailing on this ship for these past four years has been eventful. We've missed those 70-ft. tidal waves thanks to a skillful captain and help from our fellow shipmates on deck. But the smaller waves still seemed to shake us up quite a bit, at least at the time.

Like any trip, it's the people that make the voyage special.

There are some professors you would like to toss off the stern, while others deserve a medal of honor and dinner in the captain's cabin, also known as the Nittany Lion Inn, for putting up with us and guiding us.

Our fellow shipmates also deserve special mention in the ship's log, a journal that reminds us of the good times.

If I had chosen to set sail on another ship for these past four years, it would have been a completely different adventure.

"We are Penn State" is not only the battle cry of the ship, but a cheer that unites us in football games and in life.

While at times it may seem tempting to buy that good ole magic eight ball and with a few shakes have your future determined, it doesn't quite work that way, for better or worse.

We've come a long way in terms of technological advancements, but foreseeing the future is still out of reach.

But perhaps reading over the Good Ship Happy Valley daily
horoscope to see what the weather will be like over the horizon
could ease the uncertainty, at least a little.

Will it be partly cloudy with a chance of sun?

Or a perfectly sunny day?

I guess it's all in how you look at it.

As Captain Paterno bids farewell to us, we get ready to depart the ship.

The storms that we have already weathered prepare us for the next leg of our trip, and we won't be alone.

Our family and friends will act as our compass and help us find our way. Part of the fun is in the journey, but everyone's ship must dock at some point, and then you need to tell the taxi driver where to take you.

Will it be graduate school?

Medical school? Law school?

Or perhaps the scariest of all, the work world?

It's time for you to chart your own course. So, where will it be?

The meter is running.