Wow. What a crazy, amazing, four years it has been. And now, it’s coming to a close. As I reflect on my time here at UNCW and with Her Campus, I can honestly say that I am proud of what I have accomplished, as I hope every graduating senior is. I have succeeded academically, athletically, and most importantly, personally. The person that I am today is better than the person I was four years ago, and I have UNCW and Her Campus to thank for that.
Often times as humans, we struggle with vulnerability. It is no easy feat to open and share yourself, especially when it has lead to hurt in the past. But being vulnerable is what allows us to connect with the other humans around us, when we find that we have things in common and can work together to better ourselves. Writing, for me, is a way to be vulnerable. I can share my thoughts and experiences in a creative medium. Being a science major, I don’t have a lot of free time to sleep or shower, let alone express myself on a creative platform. In joining Her Campus my senior year, I was allowing myself an opportunity to be vulnerable on a huge stage (the internet) while exercising my creative writing skills that have long been collecting dust underneath my lab manuals and biochemistry notes. The experience has been nothing short of enlightening, as I found friends and complete strangers alike aligning themselves with my ideas and making me feel like I had a community of supporters that I didn’t even know existed. My only regret is not joining sooner.
My time in Wilmington, in general, has been a time of vulnerability for me. I have always been an incredibly quiet introvert, perfecting a resting b*tch face that ensures strangers don’t approach me with casual conversation. But when I tell people where I am from (Rhode Island), they begin to ask some pretty personal questions. People are curious when you leave a perfectly good, little ivy education for a public university fifteen hours from home. My reasons aren’t ones I can package neatly, and sometimes I still don’t know how I ended up here. Though I know I don’t owe anyone an explanation. I have found that being vulnerable about my experience and reasons gives me a good deal of peace. Being open and honest every single time a professor, classmate, or guy at a bar asks me about my journey here puts a smile on my face. Because if I am truly honest, and truly vulnerable, I will talk about how much I love this place, how much I have no regrets about leaving everything I knew behind. I would talk about how hard I have had to fight to be who and where I am today and about how the lessons I have learned have not been easy, but worth it. I have learned so much about the oceans, the human body, chemistry, plants, and the connections of ecology. Most importantly, I have learned about me and others, and our relationships to each other, and how our duty on this earth is to foster connections that allow for maximal growth. I am grateful and honored to be on the edge of receiving a degree from a place that has instilled in me the values of human connection, values that over time have created a better me. This place is pure magic. And I am ever grateful that I was given the gifts and the opportunity to share this place and my journey through Her Campus.