Dear UMass, thank you. Thank you for all of the experiences and relationships you have provided me over these past four years. Thank you for allowing me to further my education while also helping me find my passion.
It has been a long road these past few years, with COVID-19, a broken ankle, and constant change. However, I wouldn’t be where I am today, with the friends I have, without them. I was able to have my first semester of freshman year to run around and meet new people. Then you shut down, forcing me to move into the townhouses for sophomore year. I was able to create such strong connections with the people around me as we were cooped up in our houses for so long. Junior year, I was able to use those connections you provided me with to find the people I would live with for the next two years. You forced me out of the dorms so early that I had to learn how to make friends on my own without the setting of being surrounded by people my age in a building, and I am beyond grateful for that. I am so very thankful for all the friends you put in my life. People who are real, and not just putting up a facade. Plenty of the students here are not as lucky. But I was able to find the right people with your help.
You allowed me to be independent and on my own for the first time in my life. Learning about things they never taught you in school. I learned to pay bills, what it’s like to live with other people, and how to adapt and work through real-life struggles. I learned how to balance school work, time with friends, as well as time with my boyfriend. I was taught so many life lessons. I came here as a young teenager fresh out of high school, and I’m leaving a more mature, responsible individual.
Your classes forced me to push myself. I changed my major because of one of your classes, and I have never been so happy to be in the field I am now. I learned that college was going to take a lot more work than high school to keep my grades where I want them. You provided me with various places on campus to work towards those grades and succeed at what I did. The academic setting on campus made it easy to focus on my work and really understand what I was learning. You knew how to provide places where I could hide away and get all my work done.
Now my time here is coming to an end. I feel more prepared for the real world, but I am going to miss being young and dumb. This experience has been so valuable to me, and I will forever be thankful for all that you have done for me. With that being said: Dear UMass, thank you.
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