Someone asked me recently if I had to do it all over, would I still choose St. Ambrose? I could not answer “yes” fast enough. In the last few weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about my time at Ambrose and just how lucky I consider myself to have been able to call this place home for the last four years. As I prepare to walk across the stage today, I have just a few things I would like to thank St. Ambrose for.
Thank you for an outstanding education
Obviously the number one reason I came here was to continue my education. I knew that St. Ambrose was a liberal arts school, but I didn’t really know what that meant. Because of the liberal arts requirement, I’ve taken classes such as Astronomy, Irish Literature, and Hinduism, among others, all while completing my major classes. Over the last four years I’ve learned more than I could have ever imagined on a variety of topics, and for that I will be forever grateful.
Thank you for the leadership opportunities
Since being at St. Ambrose, I’ve had the pleasure of serving as the PR/Marketing Director for Dance Marathon, and leading a team of 15 writers for Her Campus SAU. There were successes and challenges, I was put in situations that I had never dealt with before, and because of that I learned things about myself as well as leadership skills. Not only did I learn and grow, but I met some of the most incredible people that I probably wouldn’t have gotten to know as well had it not been for these opportunities.
Thank you for the most incredible professors, who I can now consider friends
It’s crazy to me that there are some universities where professors don’t even know their students names, let alone know them outside of their academic lives. Some days I really don’t know what I would have done had I not been able to walk into a professor’s office and cry to them or vent about something, academically or personally. I’ve known the professors in the Communication department for all four years and one thing I’ll miss the most is being able to walk into their offices to just chat about life.
Thank you for allowing me to grow and become the person I was meant to be
Through my course work, extracurricular activities, social life, and having some of the absolute best and worst days of my life, I cannot even express how much I have changed as a person throughout my four years at Ambrose. I’ve met people, I’ve been put in situations, and I’ve had the chance to understand who I am and what I want out of life. I have been pushed past my limits and out of my comfort zone more than once, and I don’t even want to think about what my life would be like had I not gone through some of the most formative years of my life at St. Ambrose.
Thank you for my best friends and future bridesmaids
I met one on move-in day freshman year, some I met only a couple months ago, and others fell in between. These girls have been there for me through thick and thin, we’ve gone through some things that we never even imagined possible, and we’ve experienced life and grown together. To think that had we not all chosen St. Ambrose, I would have never met my closest friends that I can’t even imagine living life without. I know that no matter how far away from each other we end up, I have found my forever best friends.
Thank you for the memories
It would be impossible for me to recount every favorite memory of mine from even just the last three weeks, let alone the past four years. The four years I’ve spent at St. Ambrose have been the absolute best years of my life and I wouldn’t change a single moment for anything.