Mostly.

This is how it feels to look around On the Rocks Pub and Grill for the last time as you raise a champagne flute with nearly 100 of your closest friends and classmates at Quinnipiac.

“You probably had experiences in classes with your professors, with some advisers, people who will be with you for the rest of your life,” President Judy Olian said Tuesday during a brief toast.

“I hope you know that Quinnipiac University will always have a special place in your life because you’re joining a big family here — bigger than your own family — 70,000 alumni strong,” Olian said. “You will forever be Bobcats for life.”

For Madison Fahlborg ’24, MS ’25, a 4+1 public relations major from Saratoga Springs, New York, the countdown to Commencement is well underway.

“My experience at Quinnipiac has been the most impactful and transformational five years in my entire life,” Fahlborg said. “From getting my undergraduate degree to meeting my best friends to having the most amazing mentors, I truly could not have had my experience be any better than this.”

For Ydrovo, a 3+1 public relations major from Rochelle Park, New Jersey, it’s the 18-year-old version of herself that she can’t seem to shake.

“I remember my parents crying when they dropped me off four years ago,” Ydrovo said, doing her best to speak above the revelry at the Rocky Top Student Center.

“I was just standing there as they drove away thinking, ‘Oh, my God. What am I supposed to do now?’ Really, that’s what I was thinking,” Ydrovo said. “Now, it’s just like, ‘I’m done. I don’t get to come back and do this.’ I’m not happy.”

But maybe that’s a good thing, just like when the Quinnipiac tour guides say, “You’re going to love it here,” on Admitted Students Day. It wasn’t an empty pitch. It was the truth.

So what would Ydrovo tell her 18-year-old self if she could travel back in time?

“She was definitely terrified,” Ydrovo said. “I would just tell her everything is going to be OK because it will be. I still can’t believe it’s almost over.”

In Focus