''Not a single one of us here today has done it alone. We are each a patchwork quilt of those who have loved us, those who have believed in our futures, those who showed us empathy and kindness or told us the truth even when it wasn’t easy to hear. Those who told us we could do it when there was absolutely no proof of that. Someone read stories to you and taught you to dream and offered up some moral code of right and wrong for you to try and live by. Someone tried their best to explain every concept in this insanely complex world to the child that was you, as you asked a bazillion questions like ‘how does the moon work’ and ‘why can we eat salad but not grass.’ And maybe they didn’t do it perfectly. No one ever can. Maybe they aren’t with us anymore, and in that case I hope you’ll remember them.''- Taylor Swift

In the last four years, the class of 2023 has spent about 720 days together. We have experienced happiness and sadness, fear and excitement, and every other emotion in between. Soon, we will be moving on, and soon, we will be spending 720 days with unfamiliar faces. You may be scared about that, so Dr. Patriot is here to help.  Almost every adult you know has stood in your shoes, so I have gathered advice from our pasts to prepare us for our new futures.