I’ve waited an entire year to celebrate homecoming at Oklahoma State once again. I did everything but count the days to prepare for it, and I’m shameless about it. Although homecoming is established to celebrate OSU’s alumni, it would be foolish to think it doesn’t represent something meaningful to the students. It’s America’s Greatest Homecoming, after all.
The first time I ever visited Oklahoma State, I was 14. I was raised to be a die-hard Cowboys fan, but this was the first time I ever set foot on campus. And I fell in love. I looked at the campus around me, I observed the families and students walking around, I shopped in the Student Union Store. Each mundane event had me head over heels, and I knew this was the place I wanted to be. Stillwater and OSU were what I wanted to call my home away from home.
Since then, I’ve gone to multiple homecomings. And each time I had to leave Stillwater, my heart ached a little more.
I’m now going to celebrate my second homecoming as a student here, and I’m beginning to realize just how much it means to me. As a future alumna, I’m learning to take in the joys of homecoming while I’m still learning and working toward a future. I’m learning that this school holds multiple meanings for multiple different people. It’s where couples were married and families began. For me, it’s where I met people who I can already tell will be my life-long friends. It’s where I began working on my passion and it’s where I realized just how much potential I have, despite being only 20 years old.
Homecoming is a time to reflect for the alumni, but it’s a time for students to think about their futures. When I think of homecoming, I think about what my future is going to be like when I call myself an alumna of Oklahoma State.
I love this school and I hope to represent it as proudly as I did when I was a child and as proudly as I am now.