First and foremost, I was featured in the police beat section of this paper for having empty alcohol bottles on campus and I have since worked my way up to becoming news editor. The secret is out.
I’ve made the joke that I would projectile vomit at graduation since the beginning of this year.
It’s still kind of true. I’m just a whirlwind of various emotions: scared, anxious, excited, nervous, upset — both good and bad; the list is extensive.
After all, I am leaving a university that will always have a piece of my heart and I could not be more thankful and more grateful for the education, leadership skills, friends and mentors I have gained over the past four years.
I was truly blessed with the most incredible grandparents one could ask for, my nonna and poppa.
I’m pretty confident they love me more than both of my parents combined.
They spoil me with constant love and support every day.
The greatest gift they have ever given me is paying for my college education.
My poppa worked at Kroger for years while establishing his own estate sale business, which I hope to take over one day.
My nonna has worked at Stein Mart for years. They have worked their tails off in order to allow me to fulfill my passion to learn and to achieve an amazing education.
When I was a teenager, I was diagnosed with a funky comprehension disorder and ADD.
I battled through high school with some learning issues and experienced those same issues in college.
Mostly, I notice that I will read a sentence and not understand anything I just read. I often have to reread that same sentence, analyzing those same words seven to 10 times, before I can finally comprehend something.
It can be extremely frustrating, but I’ve always been patient with it.
Sometimes I’ll see a simple word and not remember what it means, so I’ll have to look it up.
Sometimes, when I’m speaking, I’ll use a word completely incorrectly, thinking that it means something else and either get laughed at or immediately corrected.
I’ve just always said, “it is what it is,” and I can’t really do anything about it except be patient.
My point is, through those times when I couldn’t comprehend phrases in a textbook or newspaper or lecture, I still worked my ass off to make myself understand it, which led to me keeping my scholarships for four years.
A lot of my friends who are graduating or have graduated are excited to get out of here, but I’m not.
I would honestly stay in college forever if I could.
I love to learn, meet new people and be social.
Now, I’m going to be living in a tiny cottage in downtown Eureka Springs completely alone.
How? One minute I was living in Hughes Hall and now I’m steaming my black graduation gown.
The greatest advice I can give to you is to meet David Keith before you graduate. He’s definitely one of a kind.
He’s genuine, and he always makes you challenge yourself. He challenged me to join The Echo, which allowed me to completely develop into who I was meant to be: a nosy reporter.
Photos courtesy of Amanda Nettles.
