Would you look at that. Graduation is just around the corner. With final exams, papers and projects nearing their end, we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I remember a feeling quite similar to the one I’m experiencing right now, during my final week of high school. I thought the day I would graduate would never come. Everyone tells us these days go by so fast, and like always, they were right.
Graduating college isn’t like high school because often this is the end of our higher education climb. We have learned and acquired the skills necessary to land the job of our dreams, or more realistically, a job that will pay the rent.
But like the end of high school, I dread an end to four years of a home I have become accustomed to. I have made friends who I will more than likely never see again after our final walk down ‘the hill.’ The University of Kansas will no longer be the place I call ‘home,’ just as I did during my time at Marysville High School. I will be an alumni and no longer a student.
A few months ago I wrote an article about having no clue what I was going to do after graduation. I, like many, wanted to simply pretend May 18th was another year away, and that the future was still just that, the future. But here we are, and the future is now. With interviews and job applications comes stress and anxiety. The thought that any day now, our lives can be drastically altered by a single email, phone call or letter.
At the moment, I still am unsure of what my future will bring. But with every end there is a new beginning. And that is what I am choosing to view this upcoming graduation; a new beginning.
As cliché and sappy as it sounds; I could not have asked for a better college experience. The person I was at the end of high school has transitioned from a scared 18-year-old with no direction, to a confident 22-year-old with a touch more of direction.I am no longer worried about what’s next, but instead look forward to the changes that will be made in the coming months.
The support I have received over the years has given me the ability to look to this new chapter with optimism. We are all capable of achieving greatness. Everyone has different goals, dreams and ambitions. Let’s embrace what makes us who we are, because the good and the not so good, has brought us to this moment. College graduation. Hats off to that, graduates. For tomorrow is a new beginning.