There are plenty of things in my life I take for granted: a support system of family and friends that are only one call away, having a car on campus when I need to go to Kinko's or Wendy's at 1 a.m., luscious locks of hair that fall effortlessly into place every morning ... but seriously.

I hail from Upper St. Clair, one of the top high schools in Pennsylvania, where the average class graduates with 10 valedictorians or more. Our athletes and actors alike go pro, and admission to the University of Pittsburgh is pretty much a sure thing.

I graduated with an International Baccalaureate Diploma and cried for the week prior, worried that I would be the only student sitting front row at the ceremony without an honors tassel around my neck.

I was so dejected to have emerged from the bottom of the cream of the crop in a district that boasts 10 United States Department of Education Blue Ribbon "Excellence In Education" flags and is one of only four schools in the country to hold this honor.

The point of this diatribe is: I will never, ever take my education for granted. I know how lucky I am to have petty cash to blow on Spicy Chicken Nuggets and last minute going-out clothes; you don't have to tell me twice. But my education? It's my center.

Before I started college I thought I was nothing without the name of the school on my diploma. Now, well on my way through my second year, I can only remind myself how fortunate I am to be where I am. How lucky am I to have so many options? What did I do to deserve the choice of pursuing whatever interest at any institution possible?

My parents have always told me, "It's not about the money. If it's what you really want, we'll make it work."

It is my duty to take this opportunity and give it everything I possibly a can. It's not just my parents' tuition money, or my professors' time. It's my potential. I may have graduated with current Harvard and Penn attendees, but that is not to say I cannot, or should not, make the most of my experience here.

It breaks my heart to see my friends struggle, but even more so to see them fail because they are not trying.

This education is a privilege; who are we to abuse it?

Earlier in the year, I fell back into my high school way of thinking and wondered if I was in the right place. I put myself in the context of my graduating class and considered whether or not I was wasting my time.

I've been discussing this idea with everyone recently, particularly since I wrote my column about the "sophomore slump." I find myself, and many of my peers, so divided by the need to succeed and the desire to enjoy this time in our lives and everything going on around us.

I thought I had found a way to strike a balance as a first year, but I realize now that the more I change and mature as a student and as a person, the more I rearrange my priorities. It's easy to immerse yourself fully in work and fall off the radar, even easier to get lost in a good time with the people around you.

My boss, Ryan Adrick, full of sage wisdom on topics from calibrating Mac monitors to choosing a life partner, explains it best: "This is the greatest opportunity that anyone will ever have in the world. It's the time to gain the experience and expertise to do what you want in your life and be happy, in theory. To throw that opportunity away is insane to me."