College commencement season always makes me nostalgic. It’s a time that brings out all of the feels—accomplishment, elation, wistfulness. Seniors around the country are graduating throughout this month, including on Sunday at my local HBCUs in the A: Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse, and Spelman College. But for all of that joy, I’m sure many are feeling an underlying angst as they matriculate during an uncertain time. As a millennial, I can relate.

​

It feels like just last week I was tossing my tassel to the side at Howard University in Washington, D.C. What a time: In May 2007, “Cupid Shuffle” had just dropped, iPhones were weeks away from hitting consumers’ palms, and a recession and a Barack Obama presidency were loading simultaneously. America was in flux, but I wasn’t asleep at the wheel. I stepped off Howard’s campus and into the real world with excitement—and some anxiety.