One of my favorite songs from high school was “Power of One” by Bomshel. For some reason, amid the allusions to Rosa Parks and Anne Frank, the words “One grain of sand can turn the tide” spoke to me.

At the time, I hadn’t the faintest idea what good any young person could ever do to be the “one single spark [that] can light the night.” I have now gone four years, and while I’m no Mother Teresa or Martin Luther King, I hope my graduating class has made some sort of tangible impact, a legacy of sorts, to leave at the Capstone.

That being said, I am a firm believer that we are at the crest of the wave of the future about to come crashing around Tuscaloosa. Four years ago, the Machine struck fear into the hearts of Greeks and Independents alike. The thought of a fraternity president or sorority vice president running against that basement-dwelling institution was nonexistent.

Nowadays, where is your sting, Theta Nu Epsilon? Block seating is fair, honor societies are emerging from their sordid slothfulness, and the SGA has become more of a laughingstock than a legitimate institution. A friend of mine the other day said that a class presentation on desegregating the Greek system was facilitated by three members of IFC and Panhellenic institutions. Five or ten years from now, that change we’ve hoped for will be here.

Four years ago, the Honors College was still in its adolescence. The campus was majorly in-state. We still were at 12 national titles. Four years has made a difference, and the many great individuals in our graduating class have served to play their roles in that act. And, along the way, we have learned a lot about ourselves and life.

So for those of you underclassmen and future students, enjoy college. Mentor people. Make friends that last a lifetime. Go out instead of studying. Make bad decisions, because the good ones only make sense in perspective. Do something crazy. Keep your head up when your spirits are down and your hand down when you don’t know what’s up. Bust down that door, run for that office, fly to that island, and take that chance.

But, most of all, stand for something, even if you are standing alone. Through the trials and tribulations and transitions, the moment you stay strong, even in failure, will ring truer in the hearts of your friends and enemies alike than the thousands of fleeting instances of inertia gathered over the course of your time here on earth.

So, to my SigEp brothers, SGA and CCHS colleagues, professors, friends, and mentors, stay strong and stay standing. I’m rooting for the winds of change to come sweeping down the Black Warrior and across the Quad.

I firmly believe that the fantastic leaders I have met and fought alongside these four great years have each been the grain of sand that has turned the Tide. Even if we will never know it, that one comment or action or instance or argument or campaign could be the flame that set the forest ablaze.

After all, that’s the power of one.

A.J. Collins was a 2011 recipient of the Hollings Scholarship and was the president of the Coordinating Council for Honor Societies.