To the Class of 2004: As we get ready to pack up for the last time, I have a short list of items I hope you are able to bring with you, wherever you may go. They are things that have made the Marquette experience one I will hold onto and am sorry to let go.

First, I hope that Marquette is a place you can call home. Four years ago, I never would have thought a place filled with screaming ambulances, countless people asking for money and overwhelming smells breweries and the tanneries would be a place I could find comfort. But somewhere between Wisconsin Avenue and State Street, I found home and I hope that you did too.

I hope the friends you've made are a reflection of yourself. I hope that in them and through them you move on with courage and confidence, knowing that you have people there to make you forget the bad things and cherish the good.

I hope that you too have memories of Angelo's and flip cup tournaments, of toga parties and days by the lake. I hope you never forget what floor you lived on freshman year or how great it felt to move off campus. I hope you have stories of your friends flooding dorm rooms and flying down stairs or mistaking a dorm room for a restroom. Because these are the things that college is made of.

I hope you found love in your Marquette experience. Whether it be love for a career, true love for that special person who always makes you smile or just a plain old love for cheese curds and beer, because that is what brings us together and that is what will keep us together, if not in body, in heart.

I hope you never forget the smiles and tears, the cold winters and humid summers, the victories and defeats. If there is one thing I have learned from all of this, it is the people you surround yourself with who make you who you are. I have met the smartest, kindest, funniest and most amazing people here at Marquette; an eclectic mix of people who have taught me far more than any textbook ever could. And I love each and every one of you for it.

So as we raise our drinks one last time, let us toast to faded memories we try to remember and friends we'll never forget. Cheers to the Class of 2004, get 'em in ya while you can.

Maegdlin is a senior advertising major.

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