As I sit here on this brick wall in my favorite spot on campus, while the song Home by Phillip Phillips plays, I look around with a new sense of fondness. I’ve spent so many hours sitting here with a mind full of worry and stress, and wondering what it would be like to be a senior and to finally be graduating. Now those days are coming and going faster than I can comprehend, and all I want is to go back and do this crazy journey all over again. I remember back during freshman year when this campus seemed so big and intimidating, and always wondering if I could ever fit in in a place that was so different from home. But now when I look around, all I see is home.
I’ve learned so much during the last four years at this school. A lot about who I was as a person, and more importantly who I wanted to grow up to be after I left here. App has given me so much and taught me so many invaluable lessons, especially about accepting people for who they are and loving everyone where they’re at. As much as it scares me to leave my safe and perfect little corner of the universe here in Boone, I know I’m ready and that I can handle whatever comes my way.
I’m so thankful for the friendships that I lost and gained throughout the last four years. College has a way of leading you to your people, and I’m so lucky to have found mine here. App has brought me so much joy, but also sadness. You never forget the table you were sitting at in the library the first time your heart got broken. But that’s just another part of the experiences and memories that App has given me that have made me who I am, and I’m eternally grateful for that.
Back when I was deciding on where to go to school, my top priority was to get as far away from home as I could. I knew App had a decent psychology program, but other than that I was pretty indifferent about it. I was never one of those die-hard App fans who had dreams of coming here their whole lives. But during orientation weekend, the minute I saw those mountains coming over that hill on 421, I knew without a doubt this was where I was meant to be – and touring this beautiful campus just convinced me even more. It terrifies me and breaks my heart to leave this magical place, but once a Mountaineer, always a Mountaineer, right? From spending Saturday’s at the Rock, to dying of heatstroke in all the classrooms in Smith Wright (and most of the other buildings on campus too TBH) because of the lack of AC, and literally walking uphill both ways in the snow to get to class everyday, there isn’t a single thing I won’t miss about App State (okay except the stairs going up to Eggers). This school has molded me into the woman I am today, and I am forever thankful – and I will always bleed Black and Gold.