Dear UT,
With senior year off to gloriously humid start and the months quickly piling up like the players on a football field, I still can’t shake the knowledge that the end is near. Graduation seems like something in the distant future, but in reality it’s quickly approaching. The thought of leaving this hallowed institution to jump into the waters of the adult world is a bit daunting. It still hasn’t hit me how quickly the time has gone by. The first few weeks of senior year have felt a little like kindergarten. Though instead of missing my mom, I’m starting to feel the pangs of missing you, UT.
Stepping onto your campus as a wide-eyed freshman, I never imagined everything that I would find here (Cue “A Whole New World” playing in the background). I didn’t just find my tribe—the friends who I consider more family than anything, I found myself. You helped me do that. By challenging my notions of who I am, by forcing me to step out of my little bubble. UT, we’ve had some great times and we’ve had some rough ones (this football game being one of the rougher ones), but I still consider you one of the great loves of my life. College isn’t just about getting an incredible education and as ranking after ranking has proved, you’re no wallflower in that department. It’s not just about getting a job or getting into grad school. The point of this crazy four-year journey is to find yourself and to find your happiness. I feel like I have found that tenfold. I’m a stronger, better, more Beyoncé-like version of myself and I owe that in large part to you.
I would like to end this love letter by saying thank you. Thank you for the 8 AM classes, the PCL hibernations, the crazy nights on 6th. Thank you for the professors I thought I would never survive, thank you for the privilege of this caliber of education. Thank you for the football games where I have screamed until my voice became an almost inaudible whisper, thank you for the pride that accompanies bleeding burnt orange. But most of all, thank you for the memories. Everything that started here really has changed my world.
Love & Hook ‘Em,
Abena