Graduation is quickly approaching for the December graduates. For most, they have looked forward to this moment for the past 4 years. Seeing as the world has been in a pandemic for the past year, I hadn’t given much thought to graduation.
There are so many things I still feel need to be done before graduation happens and yet, all I can think about are all of the things I wish I would’ve known before I graduated. It seems that I’ve spent the last 4 years thinking about this moment, this dream that is about to finally come true. I know that graduating college is a big deal and often times, most people just want to get to the finish line. A lot of people think their life will begin once they graduate. They’ll obtain a “real” job, move out on their own, and finally be done with school. However, I feel like my life began 4 years ago and I may not be quite ready to leave that just yet. I’ve met friends for life, learned more than I thought my brain could handle, and have obtained some of the best memories from my time at college. This has a place of learning for me, in actuality as well as academically. This time in my life can never be repeated and that is hard for me to take in. I feel like I have finally found myself though the last 4 years and now I have to put into practice everything that I have learned.
As the ending of an era is closing in, all I can think about now are the things I didn’t do. All of the things I wish I would’ve known before I graduated. I wish I would’ve known that time is going to zoom past us, even though in the moment it may feel like it’s dragging on. I wish someone would have shared with me how awkward it may be to start a conversation with the people who sit next to you in class, but that the feeling will soon go away and be replaced with joy, as these people may just become some of your best friends. I wish I would’ve known how important it was to get involved in clubs, dance classes, and community. At GCU, we have Hip Hop club, Zumba classes, Outdoor Recreation Club and so much more. I wish someone would have told me that work is good, but it’ll always be there waiting for you. It is okay to take the time to grab a quick bite with your friends or lower your work hours so that you can attend a few more basketball games. These are all things I didn’t know would mean so much to me and yet now that they’re all about to be taken away, I realize how noteworthy these experiences were to my time at GCU. I just knew I couldn’t leave without telling everyone how crucial these things were to the college experience.