My first ever editor's note ran in the Orientation Issue two years ago. It encouraged the students to wake up, get involved and get a little mad about the world around them. For my last editor's note, I want to encourage students to do one of RIT's buzzwords: innovate. 

Here at RIT we throw that word around a lot, and I think that not many of us have stopped to consider what that word really means. I think that innovation can mean a lot of things, but for me, innovation means new beginnings or new starts. 

Innovation has never meant more to me than now as I'm facing graduation. If ever, this is the time in my life when I will innovate myself most, and the prospect of that is so exciting to me. My advice to students in this last editor's note of mine is not to wait until graduation to innovate yourself and change. Never become complacent with where you are in life, and don't let others make you feel like you can't or shouldn't move forward. Demand the best from RIT and don't roll over just because someone says so. Challenge yourself to grow, and challenge those around you to grow as well. 

My graduation signals an era of my life in which I can grow endlessly, but I didn't need to wait until now to do that. Don't wait. Stay awake. Innovate.