Friday, January 30, 2015

The "G" Word

by Laken P., Panther Blogger

"You get a strange feeling when you're about to leave a place...like you'll not only miss the people you love, but you'll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you'll never be this way ever again."  - Azar Nafisi

Three and a half weeks into my last semester of undergrad, I can feel the unmentionable "G word" start to creep up on me.  Graduation.  It's something that my friends and I have chosen not to think or talk about as each day that passes is one day closer to walking across the stage and saying goodbye to everything we have come to know and love in the past few years.  We are all excited to begin the next chapters of our lives, but at the same time, the feeling hits us that we will never have these moments again.  Each big event becomes our last one, and the reality that our time is growing short gets a little stronger each and every day.  We got up for classes one morning only to realize it was our last first day of school.  I started my last sorority recruitment realizing that I will not be involved with the next class of girls come in.  The list of lasts continues to build, and the bittersweet truth is that in just fourteen weeks, I will be calling myself an alumna of Ferrum College.

This past week, I got my first graduate school acceptance letter!  I was excited to receive my letter since that is what I came to school for in the first place.  I came to Ferrum with the hopes of working hard, earning good grades, and that when it was all over, I would be ready to move on to the next step of my educational journey.  What I got out of Ferrum, however, was so much more than that.  I never imagined that I would grow so attached to people or a place in just three years, but now that graduation is nearly here, I can't imagine not living out the indescribable experience that Ferrum gave me.

I will be leaving this place as a person who has grown so much in the short time that I have been here.  I came to school not knowing a single person, and I am leaving with best friends that I will never know how I was able to make it the first 18 years of my life without.  I am leaving with professor mentors who I know will always be there for me if I need them, even if it is years down the road.  Above all else, I am leaving with stories and memories that will last for the rest of my life.  If anything, I can only hope that the legacy I leave behind at Ferrum is even half the size of the one it has left in me.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Reflecting on my 4 Years at Ferrum

by Rachel W., Panther Blogger

Is this really the beginning of my final semester of college?  There is no way 4 years went by so fast!  I don't want to believe it.  I have started a 400-hour internship at a local hospice agency near my hometown!  I'm a commuter student now and am spending a little less time on Ferrum's beautiful campus, which is extremely bittersweet.

As I reflect on the past few years here at Ferrum and ponder about my future, I realize there are a few things I wish I could go back and tell my freshman self:
  1. Get some sleep, but not too much sleep!  It's important to balance fun and school work. There are times where I should have just shut my door and went to sleep, and there are times when I probably should have let myself have a little more fun!
  2. Do better in your freshman classes!  You don't think they matter that much until you're down to the wire calculating what your final GPA will be and whether or not you will graduate with honors or get into your program's honors society.  Luckily last year, I was inducted into Phi Alpha, a national honors society for social work majors, but a part of me wishes I would have tried a little harder in my freshman math class.
  3. Remember your parents have feelings too.  I was my parents' only child for 18 years.  When I graduated high school and moved to college, they missed me so much that they decided to adopt two more!  Okay, maybe it was planned exactly like that, but nonetheless, it's important to call home and let your parents know you're okay.  They took care of you for a long time and it's nice to remind them they did a good job!  (Thank you, Mom and Dad!)
All in all, Ferrum as been one of the best experiences of my life!  I wouldn't trade my college experience for anything else in this world, and part of me will always call Ferrum College home.  I'm excited and nervous about the future, but I know that Ferrum has prepared me for my future.  Thank you, Jennie, Martha, Peg, Susie, Dr. Reilly, and the many more who have shaped my college career!