Our youngest child will be graduating from college in a few months. It seems like yesterday that she was taking her first steps, learning to tie her shoes, performing in her first gymnastics competition. And yet just like that, she has become a beautiful, independent young woman, getting ready to make Aliyah to Israel and serve in the IDF. Thinking back on the last few years since she and her older brothers left our nest, there are several things that we - and they - have learned:

• While some professors are unreasonably difficult, others inspire with their sensitivity, humor, knowledge and genuine desire to help students to fly;

• College friends are literally right next door to surround our children with immediate warmth and a supportive presence that is hard to replicate in other settings;

• Adult mentors are readily available, especially at Illini Hillel, which can be our children’s home away from home;

• The problem of campus Anti-Semitism is real; and our children can be a part of the solution;

• The world is smaller than it used to be, and global opportunities are simply a click away;

• Grown siblings share commonalities and bonds with each other that we couldn’t have anticipated when they were little kids bickering in the back seat of the car;

• Young adult children amaze us with their multi-tasking skills, intelligence and compassion, becoming incredible friends to us, as well as striving to change the world for the better;

• Each time our children go back to school after being at home is more bittersweet than the last; though our hearts ache missing them, they have all the tools they need to soar.