There are many chapters in your life, some are chapters you will happily turn back to in your mind’s eye. Others you will choose to never look back on again.

For many students going to Weber State University, their hopeful pursuit of the future will be a chapter to look back on with fondness. This time of year brings about change. Summer is coming to an end and autumn will soon emerge, leaving the sunny trail of summer behind.

For some students, the beginning of the new school year also marks the beginning of the university experience. If you fall under this category, you are not alone! I, too, am here for the first time, with high expectations as to where my path will lead. Excited and nervous about what this semester has in store, I am anxious to give it my best and to see where it leads.

Perhaps you are returning for your second year, coming back right after the summer semester or maybe you are finishing up a degree. Whatever season you are travelling through in your school experience, you have probably wondered what this year in education has in store for you. Where will it lead you? Will you be well on your way to where you want to be? Perhaps the year will take you on a new path you did not expect. The real question is, will you welcome what is in store for you with with hope?

As I have been preparing for school these last few months, I have pondered over where my life should lead. Right now I am uncertain, but one thing I am sure about is that this year will take me further down my designated life path.

For those in the beginning of college life, this is a big time of “new.” You may have your whole life figured out. Perhaps you have no idea what you are going to do, and have come to have some fun while figuring out what you are supposed to be doing.

I am not fresh out of high school, I served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and returned home last April. I came home with a lot of ideas of where my life should go, but now the trick is to put all those puzzle pieces together. Hopefully for us all, it will be a first year of productivity, and not of regret for what we could and should have done.

Now is a better time than ever to start living your life the way you want to live it. Being a student at Weber State University is a wonderful way to add to the building blocks of your life or to explore potential paths for jobs and careers. The new chapter is opening, what title will it hold in our minds? And will we look back on it often? For some things, only time can tell.