Wheeling Jesuit University was on my list of college applications. Near the bottom. A safety school. Close to home. Of no real consequence in the grand scheme of things.
During my senior year at The Linsly School, I, like so many of my fellow high school seniors, felt untouchable. I thought I had it all together and everything was figured out. I had a plan. Or so I thought.
Wrong.
The school I had dreamt of, craved, fantasized about since my first synchronized skating competition, that was where I was meant to be. That was where I had to go. I honestly hadn't accounted for the possible need of a Plan B or even C. Yes, I had applied to other schools. Yes, I knew that once submitted, my acceptance was at the mercy of admissions offices and committees.
What I had definitely not taken into account was that fact that Miami University in Oxford, Ohio was one of the most sought after universities in the state as well as highly ranked nationally as a "public Ivy League" university. I had failed to think of the need to utilized early decision or early action application options. I knew my scores and grades met their acceptance standards but it had slipped my mind that I would be competing against so many people! I messed up. I missed out.
I got waitlisted.
I would not be skating for MUO's synchronized skating team. I would not call Goggin Ice Center my home rink for the next four years. I would not be taking classes in Oxford, Ohio. I would not be a Redhawk. My heart was broken. The worst part: it was my own fault.
I did, however, find solace in the fact that all of my other college applications had led to acceptances.
I found hope in the Pioneer Scholars and leadership programs at Marietta College. This college wanted me. They were fighting for my attention, for my attendance. But, like so many of even the best laid plans, this one fell short.
My dad had just gotten a job at Wheeling Jesuit University as a security officer. This career change came with one very important perk: three of my four years of undergraduate would qualify for tuition remission. Yes, folks, you read that right. No tuition for me. No college debt upon graduation.
A change of plans.
So, as you may have guessed, that fall I became a Cardinal. I gave in to the fact that, yes, I had underestimated the opportunities at this school just because its proximity to my hometown, my family, my parents, my house, did not fit into what I had pieced together in my mind as the "college experience" I wanted to be a part of. After starting at WJU, I realized that the "college experience" is an extremely fluid thing. It is not set in stone and does not fit a mold. It truly is whatever you make of it.
I spent my first year as a nursing major with a political science minor. I spent one weekday and every Sunday singing for two school choirs. I still stayed on campus some nights with my friends. I met people who were vastly different from me and it made me an even better version of myself. I found a girl who would be like a sister and who has constantly been there for all of her friends even at her darkest times. I found that being the daughter of a member of Campus Security was not the worst thing and did not discourage anyone from becoming my friend. Sometimes, it even became a point of interest when they realized the connection.
The current situation.
As I write this, I sit in what has become my usual spot in the Bishop Hodge's Library. I am halfway through my senior fall semester and WJU has never felt more like home. I am expected to graduate in May with a Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice and a minor in Theology. Vastly different from the nursing major I began with. I have completed an internship that took me all the way from West Virginia to South Carolina to work with and help train K-9s and even created the opportunity for me to observe an autopsy. I am blessed to have acquired skills both on and off of campus which set me apart from your average 21 year old college senior.
I like that I can walk across campus and even if I don't know someone's name, I can promise you their face is familiar to me. I am thankful for the discussions I have participated in in my philosophy and theology classes. I am thankful for the questions I have asked, both inwardly of myself and outwardly of the role models that surround me. I am thankful for the opportunity to see my dad on campus nearly every day and that I see my mom in the bookstore every weekday. I am thankful that I have still had the opportunity to grow as a strong, intelligent adult while also keeping close ties with my family and never missing important family events like birthdays or ballet recitals.
More than anything, I am thankful for the surprise that was Wheeling Jesuit University. I am absolutely in love with the life I have created here since August 2013. I am beyond excited (and of course, a bit nervous) about the life I will create in the months and years following my graduation.
Being a Redhawk may have been my dream, but I was born to be a Cardinal.
