The Road Ahead

The last few weeks of the semester are finally closing in on us, and this is the time when students are buckling down to make sure that all of our final grades are high enough to make us eligible to walk that stage, and that includes me. Thinking that I’ve been at Western for the last two years has been almost crazy, but it’s been a great experience for me. College wasn’t the easiest thing for me when I went through my first year of college, I fell so hard during that first year and I was stuck trying to figure out where I was going to go from that point. I was given the option to just start working full time, or I could try again at Western. Trying again was the best option for me.

I was terrified when classes started back up, I was scared that I would fall back into the same habits as before and I would just repeat everything. I was lucky enough that I could rely on my parents for a bit to hold me accountable. During those first two semesters, I would sit down with my dad and just go over my grades and make sure we talked about things that were going on. It felt stupid at first because I’m in college, I shouldn’t have to show my parents anything that had to do with my grades. Looking back on that, it really pushed me to strive and make sure that I didn’t have anything to worry about when talking about my classes. Because of that, I ended up being on the deans and presidents honor roll during my entire time at Western.

There were so many other things that made my time at Western amazing, and a lot of that came from my classes. One of the first professors I really admire and am so thankful for is Cecily Brunelli. If it wasn’t for Cecily encouraging me to apply for Boars Tusk and giving great feedback to me and my papers, I probably wouldn’t be going down the path toward a journalism degree. She was the start of the butterfly effect for me, and I’m incredibly thankful for that. Because of Boars Tusk, I felt the confidence to become an editor for this very blog. I feel that it will help me in the future when I continue to work on my future degree and has opened me up to so many different writing styles, and learning what kind of journalist I want to become.

Just because you have a bad semester or two doesn’t mean that you’re bad at college, it just means you need to stop what you’re doing and reevaluate your steps. For future students coming to Western or students who are not sure what they should do, don’t be afraid to take things slow. Sometimes that’s the best option for you. For my peers that are graduating this semester with me, my wish to everyone is that they do great in their next chapter of life, and for those who are still working, don’t give up.