I grew a beard out at the beginning of my freshman year as an experiment (and to secretly lash out at my Catholic high school) and everyone but my parents loved it. It even got me a girlfriend.

She loves the scruff, as long as I keep it trimmed. Having stray hairs in front of my luscious lips during kissing is uncomfortable for the both of us.
Beards are fun. It's neat to play around with them. If you ever mess up, just shave it off and start over again!
I hope to eventually join my viking brethren and grow a respectable man-warrior-beard. My last name means, literally, "of the viking," so it would be downright wrong for me not to. Right now I'm at about "lumberjack/woodsman" level, in preparation for my camping trip next month.