After four years I’m tired of hearing the phrase “get involved.” I would roll my eyes every time but I’ve come to find your classes aren’t even enough on your résumé. It’s the experiences and the organizations you become a part of that will expand your major involvement. But don’t get crazy, or you’ll burn yourself out. I learned that the hard way. But that isn’t what I want to talk about. As I looked back on my very first column in The Rocket, I laughed at my tin grinned headshot and I laughed even harder at my childish mind. I was certainly optimistic about my college experience. I had no idea what I was in for. As a freshman, the two roommates you’re stuck with will talk about pot and their boyfriends, tremendously. So you’ll decide to make new friends and you become that ghostly third roommate. But once they both transfer you’ll decide to live in the cooler dorm with all of your new friends and you’ll commit dormcest by dating someone who lives across the hall from you. It’s what all the cool kids do. As a sophomore you’ll realize you were a wimp your freshman year and you didn’t branch out far enough, so you’ll join any club and organization that fits your hobbies. By your junior year you’ll realize everyone thinks their organization, class, or cause are the only thing that matters and so you decide you really need to build your résumé, so that logic leads you to joining a sorority. But soon enough you become a nutcase and your life becomes very stressful trying to cram everything in before your senior year. But then writing for The Rocket pays off and you join staff. Senior year becomes a cake walk of procrastination and heartfelt lasts.
Last time scheduling for classes, last Boozel breakfast as a student, last time moving out of your apartment, well this sucks. And you’ve realized you’ve made new friends in your last year that you should have known all along and you’re not ready to say goodbye. So goodbye isn’t really for me. I’m not ready to leave. As much as I’d like to play college forever I know I need to be moving on. So with goodbye I’ll say thank you. Thank you to my very first friend at college, my roommate for three years and my best friend Ashley. I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you to all the upperclassmen who have left for showing me the ropes. Thank you to my professors for instilling me with wisdom, but especially Dr. Harry. Thank you to Dr. Zeltner and The Rocket staff. We’re a weird dysfunctional family, even Eduardo and Sergio. Thank you President Norton. Thank you to all of my friends for walking with me and working through struggles together. Thank you for the Taco Bell runs and the countless whimsy Kelsey. I can smile upon my experiences at Slippery Rock and maybe come back to homecoming as an obnoxious alumna. As for now, rock on SRU. Come on, I couldn’t leave without a rock pun.
