After four years, my college experience is almost over. The days I spent sleeping in my best friend’s bed in Gunn-Henderson seem like a lifetime ago. Even the current freshmen seem different than how I remember we looked. Some of these tiny individuals I see entering our university and milling around Starbucks ordering their frappuccinos look as if they could still be in high school. I must look ancient to them – I know all seniors seemed that way to me when I was a freshman.
Regardless of the changes I’ve seen during these four years, I wouldn’t trade my experience here at Oklahoma Christian University for anything. I truly feel as if God led me to the school that I needed to attend.
I am blessed to have a job waiting for me when I graduate – I do not know if this would have been the case had I decided to attend a different school. Don’t get me wrong – getting a job after college isn’t easy. The decision to go to work immediately after graduation was even harder. But this is what college has been preparing us all for: taking risks, putting ourselves out there, expanding our horizons and setting our footprints on the face of the world.
The other night my friends and I were “working” on different assignments, and one of my friends complained we were distracting him. I countered by telling him the hard truth: this is what college is all about. When you’re a cynical senior about to face the real world, you won’t remember the times you stayed up until 2 in the morning memorizing last-minute facts for a test.
You’ll remember your friends who dragged you away from studying to see a movie at the dollar theater.
You’ll remember at this movie they dropped their Runts, sending the candies loudly tumbling down the movie theater aisle.
You’ll remember the feeling of sudden panic and excitement as you successfully sneak a corndog by Lois at lunchtime.
You’ll remember celebrating with your group of friends after scoring a table at the Caf during the after-chapel rush, when the dining room is busier than a Walmart parking lot on a Saturday morning.
You’ll remember staying up until 3 in the morning showing your friends old episodes of Gilmore Girls.
You’ll remember exploring new cities and new countries – our school has a fantastic Study Abroad program I recommend everyone apply for.
You’ll remember checking out that sketchy restaurant and discovering they had the best chips and salsa you’ve experienced in your life.
You’ll remember going home with your friends and having a delicious home-cooked meal for the first time in months.
You’ll remember going out for a night on the town on a budget of borrowed candy and $8.
Life is never more unexpected (in my experience, which admittedly is still limited) than when you’re at college. You have all kinds of opportunities to make new memories to tell the kids about. Fun fact: I once did a face-to-face interview for a real-life job dressed in a Spring Sing costume. You don’t forget things like that, and it’s just another example that life can toss anything your way. You just have to be willing to embrace it as it comes.
Assert your own independence. Don’t be afraid to take risks. These are the experiences that mold us into people of extraordinary character.
So thanks for making me extraordinary, OC. It’s been a great four years. And here’s to us, class of 2014. We did it.
0
0
Be First to Comment