78 Things To Do Before You Graduate From Champlain College

78 Things to do Before You Graduate

Although there are plenty of things current students would say are necessary to do before graduation, in honor of the College's founding in 1878, we have compiled these 78 things to do before you graduate. We hope this inspires you to get out there and start checking these off your college bucket list now!

Whether you're an incoming first-year student or in your last semester at Champlain, you can compare how your college experience has measured up to your friends'. It's important for self-discovery to go out of your comfort zone and try something new. So, if you haven't tried to play Quidditch yet, or haven't explored town by way of the CCTA bus line, you might be missing out.

View the bigger graphic HERE, and feel free to print and share it. Here's the list and additional resources to the 78 things in our 2014 edition:

  1. Snowball ambassadorsInstagram a sunset photo of Lake Champlain
  2. Attend a Champlain Theatre performance 
  3. Learn to juggle
  4. Attend a group fitness class
  5. Read poetry to jazz music 
  6. Spend a weekend (or entire semester) in Montreal 
  7. Meet with the president of Champlain College
  8. Experience class outside
  9. Play Quidditch 
  10. Be bold and ask your crush to the Snowball
  11. No matter your major, take awesome electives
  12. Create something at the MakerLab 
  13. Run for a Student Government Association position
  14. Do community service 
  15. Create a professional LinkedIn profile
  16. Take a photo with Chauncey
  17. Perform at the Grind open mic night 
  18. Make friends from other colleges wish they came to Champlain College
  19. Participate in student activities' spring game show — this year they are playing Slime Time Live!
  20. Get pied for a good cause
  21. Explore the Champlain archives
  22. Participate in Tent City 
  23. Otis Mountain Get DownDisplay your art in the Hauke gallery
  24. Learn to do laundry and cook for yourself
  25. Kick bad habits 
  26. Table at the student activities fair
  27. Be in a student film 
  28. Have a maple "creemee"
  29. Attend a Champlain rugby or ice hockey game 
  30. Camp out at the Otis Mountain Get Down music festival organized by current students and alumni
  31. Linus HubbellMeet Linus Hubbell (photo of Linus at right by Kate Young '14)
  32. Stroll downtown with friends
  33. Utilize your free access to the CCTA bus line
  34. Explore local farmer's markets
  35. Get sudsy at spring meltdown
  36. Spend a summer in Burlington 
  37. Pull an all-nighter in Metz Studio Barn
  38. Get a $30 season pass to Sugarbush's Mt. Ellen
  39. Have a Beaver Tail Sandwich at Jazzman's café
  40. Start your own business with BYOBiz 
  41. Tweet using #campchamp
  42. Go bobsledding 
  43. Experience Humans vs. Zombies 
  44. Check out parkour or rock-climbing clubs
  45. Be on the local news or Jack Carpenter's Lake Night talk show
  46. Call your first-year residence hall "home" 
  47. Gain cultural awareness
  48. Get an on-campus job
  49. Become an Orientation Leader (OL)
  50. Attend the KeyBank VT City Marathon
  51. Dress up and attend the Halloween dance
  52. Monkey around
  53. See the S.D. Ireland St. Patrick's Day parade - I never thought cement trucks could be so cool!
  54. Learn to Lead Like A Beaver 
  55. Be a bee-keeper for a day 
  56. Support a charity or a friend's crowd-sourcing campaign 
  57. Attend events hosted by your resident assistants
  58. Build lasting relationships with professors and staff members
  59. Become a Student Ambassador
  60. Have breakfast at Handy's Lunch on Maple St., owned by Champlain alumni
  61. Orientation Leaders at the Ropes CourseBecome a mentor 
  62. Attend Ski & Ride's annual Rail Jam 
  63. Compete in the Elevator Pitch competition
  64. Become a Resident Assistant or Peer Advisor 
  65. Take advantage of free bowling and movie nights 
  66. Travel the world
  67. Make the Dean's List
  68. Attend internship and job fairs
  69. Take the Champlain shuttle down to Lakeside Campus
  70. Tune up your resume with Career Services 
  71. Ace Capstone 
  72. Learn the words to the Champlain Alma Mater
  73. Get an internship abroad
  74. RSVP to the Senior Trustee Dinner
  75. Apply for jobs
  76. Thank everyone who supported you and made attending Champlain College possible
  77.  Senior Week ActivitiesAttend senior week activities
  78. Get your diploma! - SAY CHEESE! 

Also, check out the 2012 edition of 78 things to do before you graduate for some more fun ideas and a look back at how Champlain has changed in just two years.


Founded in 1878, Champlain College is a small, not-for-profit, private college in Burlington, Vermont, with additional campuses in Montreal, Canada, and Dublin, Ireland. Champlain offers a traditional undergraduate experience from its beautiful campus overlooking Lake Champlain and over 90 residential undergraduate and online undergraduate and graduate degree programs and certificates. Champlain's distinctive career-driven approach to higher education embodies the notion that true learning occurs when information and experience come together to create knowledge. Champlain College is included in the Princeton Review's The Best 384 Colleges: 2019 Edition. For the fourth year in a row, Champlain was named a "Most Innovative School" in the North by U.S. News & World Report's 2019 "America's Best Colleges,” and a “Best Value School” and is ranked in the top 100 “Regional Universities of the North” and in the top 25 for “Best Undergraduate Teaching.” Champlain is also featured in the Fiske Guide to Colleges for 2019 as one of the "best and most interesting schools" in the United States, Canada and Great Britain and is a 2019 College of Distinction. For more information, visit champlain.edu.