What Graduating Seniors Can Learn From Cartoons

I don’t know about you, but it’s rather evident the impact the cartoons I watched as a kid have had on me; it seems that I can’t get through a single day without quoting something utterly ridiculous from some of my favorite TV shows coming up! In order to keep my brain from turning into absolute goop, I figure that I should try to make use of all the random facts and quotes that float around in my brain on the daily. Putting things into perspective as to where my life is right now, I realized that there is actually a great deal of information that graduating seniors alike can take away from some of our favorite childhood cartoons! Now if only I could remember where I put my finance calculator so that I can finish my homework…

SpongeBob SquarePants

Although yellow, loud, and annoying (two of which will get you kicked out of class for the day) there is a great deal of things that us graduating seniors can learn from Spongebob; persevere no matter the odds against you and stay motivated. Our good friend SpongeBob works as a fry cook for probably the cheapest crab in the ocean, but he still manages to have a great attitude and be the best that he can be no matter his surroundings! We are well aware that SpongeBob couldn’t pass a driving test to save his life, but he never stops trying. At this point in our college careers, we’ve come too far to give up now, we must continue to push ourselves and move forward to reach our end goal, graduation day! For those of us who plan to attend graduate school and will be taking the Graduate Management Assessment Test (GMAT) or any other type of standardized test such as the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), I would not advise that you fail it 37, *meow*, 38 times like SpongeBob failed his boating/driving test, but I do want to stress that you take it with determination and tenacity to pass! Stay motivated and persevere!

Scooby-Doo!

Oh to be as fashionable and confident as Daphne and to be as intelligent and sharp-witted as Velma in college, what a concept! But that is not the main lesson to learn from Scooby-Doo, rather everything is not as it seems. Time and time again we see episode after episode where monsters turn out to be disguises or illusions or holograms! We also experience this same type of thing in college; don’t let the lives of what our peers portray on social media make you feel inferior or inadequate. Our generation sometimes lives as if “If you didn’t post it on Instagram, it didn’t happen”. I have learned many times that just because people are posting the best pictures of acceptance letters, new cars, relationships, and great grades does not mean that their lives are perfect! You don’t know what people have had to go through behind the scenes to finally get that one acceptance letter out of the 12 denial letters they received! At the same token, some people may actually be miserable and going through a lot but they post things on social media that make it seem like everything is okay to make them feel better or to put on a front; either way, do not let it get to you, know that your time is coming! College is not a cakewalk and everyone’s journey is different!

Hey Arnold!

If you’re familiar with the show Hey Arnold, you may automatically think of Arnold’s weird, football-shaped head, Helga’s secret and unhealthy obsession with Arnold, or how Arnold and Gerald were totally bestfriend goals! When I think of Hey Arnold, I think of a very valuable lesson to be learned, surround yourself with many different types of people. Arnold lives in a boarding house where he is raised by his grandparents; the inhabitants of the boarding house are all from different backgrounds. Arnold’s social life is just as diverse as his home life in the amount of different friends and people he chooses to interact with. As a graduating college student, it is important to surround yourself with and learn from a number of people from different backgrounds. It is a successful part of networking and gaining a great deal of perspective from people from different walks of life so that you will be worldly, knowledgeable, cultivated and have the social skills that are necessary to thrive in your career upon graduating. It’s never too late to start getting to know new people; in this life, you never stop networking, we need each other to survive!

Maybe I’m just being a little too reminiscent or maybe I’m just trying to hold on to the little bit of childhood left inside of me because I know that graduation is approaching and adulting will be a nonstop part of my life from here on out...either way, we are embarking upon some of the most important days that will be stepping stones to the rest of our lives and there are many takeaways from the experiences we have had thus far, including our favorite childhood cartoons!

Much love and congratulations to the recent and up and coming graduates!