Excuse me for being sentimental, but I'm 384 hours from graduation and I'm trying to see what I've really learned here.

My collegiate career witnessed hundreds of hours in classrooms and has garnered libraries of information from brilliant professors.

I've Powerpointed, highlighted and uploaded my way through college and I'm thankful for the education I've received at this spectacular school.

But today I'm pensive as I sign out of Dear Old State. I may eventually forget how to calculate chi-square and Pearson's R, but I'll never forget the stuff I really learned growing up in Happy Valley.

Today my column isn't ripping on the latest demonstration or punning my way around societal issues. It isn't criticizing Vicky Triponey or saluting the Chicken Man. Not today.

Because I've finally earned the right to be sappy. And for some reason I feel the need, in my altered emotional state, to impart the wisdom I never heard myself.

The wisdom I could have used navigating a humongous campus as a bewildered freshman, grueling coursework as an aspiring intellectual and the rest of my life as a guy who hopes he doesn't fail. This is the stuff I've found that really counts. And it may keep your sanity intact.

So cue my swan song. This is my anthem: Hold the door open. Say "thank you."

Compliment your best friends, they are truly part of your family and among the few who will bail you out of any situation, any time.

They will also be the ones who will play major parts when your life is made into a movie or into a circle of lawn chairs on a neighbor's porch long after the sun has set on your youth.

Don't treasure green paper. Treasure life. Hug your mom and dad.

Accept people for who they are. Be who you are. Every person was made in a certain way so that the world could live in harmony. Do your part. It will lead you to happiness, and if everyone is happy, who will want war?

Share what you have when you have it. People will remember your kindness when you are in need.

Make your bed. You might not feel like it, but there is nothing like having a simple sanctuary at the end of your day.

Sleep easy. Don't let the activities of today and plans of tomorrow ruin your rest. Go outside. Run in the woods. Sit in the grass. Get wet. Dogs do all of these things and are among the happiest beings I've met so far.

Don't let others use you, but always let them have you when they need you.

Find someone who loves you for who you are, not what others say about you. Believe in miracles. There is beauty in everything...find it. Where you are is only what you make of it. Make good stories.

Meet strangers, they are only strange until they become your friends. Allow yourself to be met. Talk to people and find out what they're really like.

We are all born ignorant and spend our whole lives trying to convince ourselves that we are becoming wiser. The truth is that we are wiser in acknowledging our ignorance than we are in claiming our genius.

Desire new experiences, but be content with what you have. Count your blessings. Don't look for shooting stars because you'll miss out on the night sky.

Don't chase fame. Those who we will never forget would have lived the same way without the cameras. Live each day as if it were your last. It could be.

Don't dwell on the end. You'll be dead by the time it gets here.

The greatest gift you can give is time, so don't waste it.

But don't save it because you can't take it with you.

Believe in things. Be a reason of hope for tomorrow.

So sue me for being sentimental. And cliché. Knowing this society, you probably will. I've written columns criticizing this world for too long. Now it's my time to cherish it.