Me Presenting My Senior Research Paper The Xavierite
My time at college began bittersweet.
I first started in 2021 at The University of Kansas (KU). I decided to go there after being influenced by a friend who also attended, and in all honesty, I should have never gone.
Experiencing us winning March Madness was a once-in-a-lifetime experience (they haven’t won since I left, just saying), and I wouldn’t trade the friends I made there for anything but in every other aspect I didn’t feel seen by the administration.
From a teacher losing my midterm and giving me a zero with no chance to challenge it, to being ghosted by the dean after relentlessly trying to avenge my grade, it wasn’t ideal.
And don’t even get me started on the slop that was our dining options.
Suffice to say, after my first year, I decided to transfer to Moraine Valley.
Here, I gained a much more solid idea of what I wanted to do.
Recognizing a degree of compassion from my professors I was unfamiliar with during my time at KU, I actually felt wanted.
After taking an invigorating speech class that broke me out of my public speaking shell, I decided on Communication as my major.
Moraine was quite a different pace than KU, most notably socially which paled in comparison, but that was the exact environment I unknowingly needed.
Allowing me to focus almost exclusively on my work, I slowly placed the bricks for the path I would eventually walk down.
With an idea of where I wanted to head, I spent two years at Moraine and finished my undergraduate.
As many of you could guess, my next destination was right here at SXU, and it has been the most eye-opening and influential college I have been at by far.
I had a stronger idea of what I wanted to do but was still hesitant on the exact direction.
Communication is quite a broad topic, and I had struggled for countless hours over deciding what field I would want to go into.
That was until I took my first classes at SXU with Dr. Vincent Davis and Dr. Cyndi Grobmeier.
The clear purpose and care these two taught with was evident to me, and I became much more interested in the field of communication as a whole, deciding on Strategic Communication as my focus.
With Dr. Grobmeier as my academic advisor and the support of every other professor and peer in the Communication department, I credit them all as key pieces in the puzzle that has been my life.
I made my way through all 120 credits and have arrived at where I stand now.
It’s been hard coming to terms with the end of my academic career as I finish the last of my finals and prepare to take my steps on stage at graduation.
This isn’t something I would willingly do again, but it has been my life for nearly my entire existence.
It began with three-year-old preschool at Kolmar Elementary where making it to 5th grade seemed an insurmountable task let alone graduating college.
All the way to my current position just weeks out from receiving my degree and being hurled into my professional career.
I went into college with zero idea of what I wanted to do, and I remained that way for nearly two years.
With a certain degree of fear looming over my shoulder for most of my college career, it was largely alleviated through my time at SXU.
I am still unsure exactly what I am going to do following graduation but have a much clearer idea and have accepted that I am heading in the direction that is meant for me.
As you continue on your journey and try to find the direction meant for you, remember to take it slow and appreciate everything you experience.
Before you know it, you will be in the exact position I am, questioning where all the time went.
SXU has allowed me to find my passion and I wholeheartedly wish I had been here from the beginning.
Thank you for a memorable two years and an incredibly joyous semester of writing articles for The Xavierite.
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