Graduation is approaching. In a matter of days, seniors will go from the top dogs on campus to the underdogs in the real adult world.

Some seniors have exciting plans to travel and experience new things. Others have important internships and jobs lined up. Some are continuing their education with graduate programs or Fulbright scholarships.

No matter what their future holds, most seniors have some advice to give to the students they are leaving behind.

Emily Meinel, a theater and business double major and music minor, is departing to her hometown in Alaska right after graduation in order to participate in a local renaissance fair. She has been a part of the Blue Court, the Fight Club, and a dancer in the circus. This is her tenth year participating.

After the fair, Meinel is taking off to explore France with her father as a graduation present.

Meinel is also waiting to hear back about her interview with the Shakespeare Theater Company in Washington, D.C. If that doesn’t work out, she is planning on finding work in Portland.

She is trying to use her business and theater majors to find a career that combines the two.

As for advice to underclassmen, Meinel says, “Ask professors and advisers about opportunities for internships or jobs or even just connections, even for over the summer, because they really know how to network and create a plan for what you want to do.”

Chelsea Siegner, a psychology major and elementary education minor, doesn’t have any immediate plans after graduation but has gotten interviews with the Department of Human Services and Child Protective Services.

Siegner says, “The best part of my time at Linfield was the small community feel. It made the four years so much fun.”

Her advice for underclassmen is to “learn time management early on and save yourself a lot of stress and sleepless nights.”

Jordan Giza, a mass communication major, is staying at Linfield in the fall to finish nine elective credits. He will be on the coaching staff of the Linfield’s football team, focusing on the defensive backs. After he is finished at Linfield, Giza plans on playing football in Germany for the Hamburg Huskies, a team his brother already plays for. He will also being working for Infomedia, managing the social media pages. Infomedia is a consulting firm focused on web design.

Henry Simons, a biology major and music and chemistry double minor, is working at Cornerstone in McMinnville with a coffee roasting apprenticeship. In a year, he hopes to go to Washington State University for graduate school, and will focus on biology and chemistry.

“My favorite part of Linfield was doing research with Dr. Tillberg. We were examining how changes in the plant community structure affect terrestrial invertebrate food webs. Doing research with professors is such a valuable experience, and is so different than doing research for a class project,” Simons said.