Here’s my advice to excel in life: culture yourself.

Personally, I find it necessary in order to be a decent human being. I’ve been in the process of trying to achieve this and to some degree I have. This is thanks to studying abroad, becoming friends with people around the world and even writing for Mint.

Saying goodbye to the Mint section is bittersweet. Especially because I’m always power-hungry, but that’s another story. I’m excited to have a new beat and begin writing for a new section, but I’m sad to say goodbye to the part of the paper that I’ve been writing for since I was a freshman.

This is where I developed the courage to ask strangers questions, was allowed to be as creative as I wanted to be and found my love of writing. One of my biggest takeaways is that I learned things I know I wouldn’t have if I wasn’t in the Mint section. Although the section changed over time, I still felt like I was learning so many things along the way.

Being cultured is synonymous with being educated and that’s why you’re at WSU, right? Well, you can be uncultured and still be smart. We all know someone who fits that profile. However, at least you have the opportunity to change that. You could start off by making friends who are from different places and have experiences unique from your own, or you could, ya know, read a book.

Honestly, as long as you’re curious and take time to learn things, you’ll be set. This is why I wanted to tailor Mint in a way that would help students become more acquainted with arts and culture on campus, be it through events or informative columns.

In general, developing an awareness of societies other than your own, whether regarding religion, political developments, cultural norms or otherwise, is very important in this day and age. Mint was on the lighthearted side of things, but it still contained a little dose of culture to make you more woke.

Even art itself is communicated to people regardless of their language, class or culture and it has the ability to reflect an entire community of people. You don’t have to be a human Louvre or anything, but having some understanding of art is helpful for being refined.

You have the potential to obtain the glamorous life of a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY), so be cultured just like the SCOBY that helped make your spicy cup of kombucha. Stay with me, I know this analogy is terrible.

SCOBY feasts on sugar in order to grow into a big ol’ bacterial slab of mush and like SCOBY we have to do that too. Our sugar is comprised of arts and culture, and luckily we don’t even have to turn into a tan flab of microorganisms.

I hope you enjoyed the probiotic-rich semester of Mint and were able to learn some things you didn’t know before. Next semester, Mint will be in good hands.

Stay minty fresh, everyone and goodbye.