Jack Shea
Staff Writer
Seniors, you may think that you’ve already experienced everything your university years have to offer. Maybe you finished all the hard classes junior year. Perhaps post-university life demands all free time to now be spent planning out the rest of your adult lives. However, accomplishing underrated senior year bucket list goals can save UCSB seniors from having major regrets later in life. On top of that, seniors, life is short. Live it up by considering these senior year bucket list goals.
1. Sky Diving
Santa Barbara’s beauty is arguably incomparable to anywhere else. For this reason, it’s ranked as one of the top skydiving destinations in the world. Taking all of Santa Barbara’s beauty in at one time is easiest with skydiving. The exhilarating rush of Skydiving provides an exciting venue to take all of Santa Barbara’s beauty in while living senior year to the fullest.
Not only is skydiving a blast, it has possible health benefits too! One study reveals that stress produced from skydiving improves the ability to hold onto recent memories. Stress from skydiving might enhance the brain’s ability to hold onto fond memories especially, according to the same study. Who doesn’t want to remember more of the good times?
2. Hook-Ups
Maybe it’s hooking up with potential mentors who are working your dream job or hitting up that cutie from Tinder. Unearth that anxiety-concealed courage to make new connections, talk to people who seem ahead of you, or schedule a hot date.
Senior year modus operandi proves time’s cruelty in the impossible-to-fulfill (before graduation), never ending student obligations and goals. This fast pace calls for little delay, ask your special someone out or to hook-up with you before it’s too late.
Grab binoculars and a friend for some good old whale watching. Breathtaking California coastal memories happen in the beautiful waters of Isla Vista’s beachfront. Get a few friends to walk to Campus Point with you, check out the scene anytime when the lighting’s decent (not hard to do in IV), and relax into the chill. With some light snacks or refreshments, it can be quite the treat!
Make two-in-one-bucket-list goals come true with Santa Barbara Sailing. Students receive a special rate to take in what could be the best first date idea since the Nickelodeon Theater’s first show. Its fifteen-dollar whale watching cruises for students are unbeatable — ipso facto — they fail not to impress a hot date.
- Sign Up for Different Athletic or Artistic Courses
Students taking agency into making the best of their social and academic environments while taking the time to get to know themselves (e.g. pursuing dreams and addressing mental health needs) have “greater confidence in their abilities to successfully undertake the career-related tasks of goal selection, gathering occupational information, problem-solving, realistic planning and self-appraisal,” according to some scholars.
Seniors, think about your favorite pastimes and find ways to incorporate them more often (or more productively) into your schedules, such as getting some buds together for an intramural sport or taking a class at the Recreation Center. These classes range from aerial silks conditioning to guitar lessons to getting certified as a personal trainer.
It’s worth the time because of the fun experiences and, as the National Career Development Association concludes, “engaging in a breadth of activities and interactions results in decision makers who understand how their plans and goals relate to their interests and strengths, and they use this understanding to make satisfying decisions.”
- Letting Go
Time flies and not everyone deserves a place on your senior year journey. Therefore, seniors, ask yourselves, “Is this other half all there is for me?” Is this person helping you to become a better person?
Senior year, an opportune chance for change, depends on decisions and whom those decisions encompass. Seniors’ perceptions of how they view themselves and what they should do with their lives are significantly impacted by romantic relationships. For instance, a relationship from freshman year has the potential to impact the trajectory of a senior’s academic and professional pursuits.
Romantic relationships affect “developmental achievements—autonomy, individuation, identity, and sexuality” analyses in the Journal of Research on Adolescence suggests. For the sake of both the brokenhearted and the senior who is someone’s baby, a senior year bucket list goal of self-exploration above romantic exploration could change one’s entire life trajectory, not just academic and professional trajectories.
Make senior year the best year by surrounding yourself with people you truly care about and people who truly care about you. A year of personal and friendship growth over monogamous relationship growth finishes senior year with better friends and valuable memories.