He’s an Olympic swimmer, he won a record eight gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games and he holds multiple Swimmer of the Year titles.

His name is Michael Phelps, and he’s also been caught smoking pot.

Now that he’s been suspended for three months, there’s time for him — and the rest of us — to reflect on the incident.

Since the photo was released, Phelps has been criticized for failing to be an adequate role model. However, many have also defended him as a young man merely doing what many people his age do all the time.

As college students, it’s a little easier to identify with Phelps. We’ve all been there, right? We’re young, we’re in college, and we’ve all done something we would rather not have the whole world know about.

In light of Phelps’ party-activity-gone-public, it’s time to reevaluate our role models: should we really look to a young man barely older than some of us to be our role model? And are we, by doing that, putting too much weight on his shoulders?

Phelps certainly has many accomplishments under his belt, and he has achieved more than many people his age. But he’s still 23.

We should be looking beyond our peers for role models, and instead to our elders, whose opinions are often ignored in our know-it-all college years. People with wrinkles don’t have them for no reason, and even if they’re not big shots, they can teach us a lot.

In a society in which youth is coveted and celebrities are worshipped, it’s time to look to people who have lived through much more to tell us where we should go. These are people who have experiences we may not understand; those who have seen the Vietnam War, been married or divorced, been a single parent, held down a job, lost a job, seen presidents change countless times or who have merely tried to live a good life.

Many consider Phelps’ incident a mistake, but even our elders made mistakes during life that they learned to work through. We should cut him some slack and remember that he’s really just a kid like the rest of us. Someday, when he’s lucky enough to have wisdom and wrinkles, a younger generation will look to him for advice — and he’ll have a good story to tell.

This is the opinion of The Daily’s editorial board: Editor-in-Chief Sarah Jeglum, Managing Editor Shiree Teixeira, Opinion Editor Natalie Sikavi, Features Editor Nicole Ciridon and Copy Chief Randy Ferreiro.