Graduation

Graduation

Graduation time has always been bittersweet for me. It's the culmination of all my hard work throughout the year, and I am anxious to get out of school so I can go out with my friends, start my summer job, and go to camp. For some reason though, while other kids are celebrating as school is let out, I always feel sad that the year is over. Maybe it's because my every day routine is altered by the summer months, or maybe it's because I really do enjoy learning. I'll miss teachers who inspired me, and friends who are moving away. But this year, above all, I'll miss this year's graduating seniors.

I'm finishing my freshman year, so technically speaking I've only spent the past 10 months getting to know the seniors in my school. Regardless, some of them are among my closest friends. They say that after graduation, you won't see 75% of the people you now call your friends ever again. I'll miss the seniors in my orchestra, who always made playing fun. I'll miss the seniors who were in my health class, especially Caitlin, who helped me argue my case every time we had a debate. I'll miss the seniors who were on my softball team! They were amazing players, awesome leaders, and great friends.

I almost dread my senior year, in a way. Although I can't wait until I can drive, and I certainly look forward to the day that I might be the captain of my softball team, I know that graduating is going to be yet another one of those bittersweet memories. I won't want to leave my friends, the people who I've grown to love, the people who have become family to me over the past 14 years. Even then, I'll be excited about going away to college and making it on my own. I know ivory sure is! So, in honor of the graduating seniors, I have rounded up a couple survey responses about what college is really like. Here's to ya, guys, and good luck next year!

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The Real Deal on University Life

First Impressions

-At first, I was a little intimidated by the "newness" of everything but that was almost immediately changed. My professors were nice and very helpful in understanding what we were going through. The other students were great as well; there isn't a day gone by when someone I don't even know says "hi" to me on the sidewalk. Everyone was/is very friendly.

-When I first got to college (Mind you I was 7 states away from home and at an Art school so it wasn't normal) I was absolutly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of diverse people and had a lot of insecurities about where I'd fit in. The key to fitting in I found out was not trying to. It's a heck of alot better to be the oddity or the individual than being JUST LIKE everyone else.

-Well, I was certainly quite nervous. Grade school was DEFINITELY hell for me, and I didn't want to repeat that same experience in college. I also thought that there would be HUGE classes, but it didn't turn out that way at the college I'm at.

-Answer: It was a lot bigger than I expected. The workload was higher and the material much more difficult. Still, I did adapt over time.

-I liked it, b/c it was a new environment, but some of my classes are just like high school, so it wasn't like a big shocker or anything...and I was out of HS for 2 1/2 yrs before I started college.

-It was so big. The campus was huge, the students were brilliant, and the teachers had high expectatoins. I felt like I was the dumbest person on campus! And I beleived that until I found out everyone else felt the same way!

-I was scared, I thought that they must all be better than me, and the college seemed huge, I thought I would never feel comfortable.

-Wonderful! I loved it, especially as I dropped out of high school. The teachers were so encouraging, the students great and easy to get along with and the school work was a challenge. I had never been challenged in high school!

-My first impressions of the college that I am at currently is that it's just a jumped-up version of high school that I am paying for.


Best Memories

-During the first week of school, no one on my floor (in the dorm) really knew each other but one night a few people and I started a movie in our room and before I knew it, other girls had joined us and we got to know each other better. That little movie was the catalyst for us to really reach out to one another and get along.

-My best memory of college HAS got to be living in the dorms. There's no feeling like having complete controll over what you do, what time you are awake during and taking controll of your life like that. The other great thing is I was surrounded by people who were all going through the same thing I was at teh same time. You meet dozens upon dozens of people simply by walking down the hall. It was absolutly fantastic.

-My best memories are probably the good times I have with all my friends there, and I love it when the class gets into a really interesting discussion!

-So far, being involved with the theatre department, that's where I met most of my best friends here...and going to Mardi Gras!

-So far? Well last Spring quarter a bunch of my friends and I stayed up all night playing this game called "Mafia", essentially a mind game. We finished around 4 am and then my friend Jess and I walked to the lake shore(Lake Michigan...I'm in Chicago) and watched the sun rise and just talked. I didn't get much sleep but I had a lot of fun and grew a lot closer to my friend.

-Probably my African American Lit class, it was so contriversial at first, and then we all grew very close. I really enjoyed it. I learned a lot about me in that class.

-Winning a speech scholarship!

-My best memory is when I threw myself a birthday party my freshman year. I was turning 18 and nobody of my family was going to be around, nor were my friends coming to visit either. I was already depressed so I just decided to throw myself a party and invited all the girls in my hall. My R.A. had them make me gifts, and I bought a cake and ice cream, and it was just fun times.


Worst Memories

-The first few panicky minutes when you don't know who you might sit with at lunch.

-My worst memory of college? During my freshman year, first semester finals my best friend's mother who helped raise me dies and I got that phonecall from so far away and that hurt. I also had a few professors discriminate against me grade wise due to my choice of major and thier bias aggainst it as a real art. Crappola happens. You gotta fight it though

-The worst was probably last semester, when I put off doing my Arthur seminar journal, and I had to HAND write about a whole bunch of texts the weekend before it was due. (heh heh)

-Um...so far...not having a car or a job!

-My first Chemistry Exam. I thought I had failed until I found out the class average and discovered that I had a B-. It was depressing that I was now dependent on the way others performed to do well.

-I was friends with this girl, then all of a sudden she stopped being my friend, and I have no idea why, but we were already committed to a group project together. She was in three of my classes that were fairly small, so the whole semester was fairly uncomfortable.

-The most boring, pedantic and horrible of classes and falling asleep all the time he he.

-I had a good friend (who shall remain nameless) and we were great friends from the second half of my freshman year when I got involved in our first ever Dance Marathon until my sophomore year when things just started to go very much downhill. Ended up we had a huge fight and she stopped REALLY talking to me until just a few days ago when she suddenly decided that it was alright to hang out with me again.


Most Memorable

-My first writing class in Fall Semester was the first time I had a lot of fun writing essays. The subjects we picked so I wrote about stuff that I was interested in and it was so fun! My prof liked every one of my papers and that class pointed me in the direction of double-majoring in English and Professional Writing.

-heh I had the problem (again to repeat here) of a couple of professors absolutely grade against me because they didn't think that my choice of major, being comic book illustration and story progressions, was a real major and constantly dogged down on anything I turned in. I got many many D's for A grade work and I talked to one of my rofessors, Prof. Mark Kneese who writes the comic strips for Tarzan amongst other things, and not only did he convince me to stay in colege, but at the college and went to bat for me against the other Profs who were giving me a hard time. Professors can be jsut the coolest people in the world. Dont' be afraid to talk to them like real people.

-My most memorable .... hm. Geez, there are a lot. Friends I've met, classes I've taken, teachers I'll never forget...there are really way too many to list!

-Marching in a student protest requesting increased funding for University education. It was one of the most organized and peaceful marches I've ever seen.

-I went to an Organic Chemistry review session one Sunday evening. I knew that I would be late, but I didn't think that mattered. When I got there I found all the doors had been locked. We(there were 3 of us) could see the review session through the window...so we knocked. The professor opened the window for us and we climbed in...in front of 60 people. But after that my prof always made sure to talk to me!

-Graduating!

-A class with a stoned teacher that we made fun of all night without him ever realizing it.

-I have had lots of memorable experiences. I have recently joined a sorority (and I was very much anti-Greek when I got here in Fall '99'). I have met a TON of new people, including my friends (who are also here @stories) Bran (Morgaine Le Fay) and Shannon (Angelgirl) . Also I have gotten involved with our Dance Marathon for Pediatric AIDS, with the art department, with about a million other clubs on campus...once, we had a Halloween party in the haunted theater building with a professional scary story-teller (he was freaking awesome!) and we had costumes and games and stuff...that was fun times too.


Any Other Comments/Advice

-1) No matter what grade you are in, start saving up for college now!! One of my biggest stresses isn't classes or homework, it's whether I'll be able to go back to the school I love next year because of financial difficulties.
2) Don't stress over ACT's and SAT's. It's not worth getting sick over. Just do your best and you'll be fine

-My advice....hrmm........Fashion and make-up and sporty clothes don't last in college. People look for and admire and HIGHLY resepct the real deal. A girl in sweats and a ponytail with a brain has a better chance in the world and relationships than the skinny chick in the platform shoes trying to be what others want her to be. As far as I could tell in college, guys like meat on their people so please don't start any of those weird diets that I kept seeing everyone on. Personality is everything. You can stay out all night, but no matter what happens make it to your classes. They take no flak on that stuff. It's SO EASY to fail out of a class by only missing 3 of them. I won't say how I know that but they don't take sorry for an answer anymore. And no matter what happens, don't give up. It's so much harder to go back to than it is to tought it out. oh yeah. And smile. That never hurts.

-Be careful when you go. College is a whole new educational experience. Make sure you study, do homework, and show up for class. Your professors generally don't much care if you do or don't since you are paying to be there and if you don't make the effort you are wasting your money. However, make sure you save some time for socializing. Drop in to the local student hang outs. Attend a concert or some sporting events. Join a club. Just do something that the college offers.

-College is great....when you're ready. I wasn't ready right after graduation, so I took a couple years off. Don't let anyone tell you what you should or shouldn't do about going to college. Do what's best for you, and you'll have SO much more fun.

-Try hard and challenge yourself in school. Then when you apply make sure to apply somewhere you think you're just not good enough for. You never know, you might get in. Don't be afraid of a challenge. Start to take responsiblity now and when you go to school it won't be so hard.

-I went to college in my thirties, so I am not the typical college student. I think it would have been easier to go right out of high school, but I made other choices with my life. I am not sorry I went later, it is never to late. If you go out of high school, be nice to the older poeple in your classes because it took a lot for them to be there, and they are struggling with information that might be easier for you because you just learned it.

-Once you have a foundation, then you can reject higher learning but without any knowledge how can you make an educated choice?

-College is going to be hard. People are going to expect more from you than you think you are willing to give. Don't just discredit them; I know that if it weren't for people like them, I wouldn't be half the person I am today, and I wouldn't have had half the experiences, either.

Thanks to everyone who responded!!!



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