When making the big decision to go to college, every student has the same end goal. That is to graduate, walk the stage, and receive the diploma that they have earned. Blood, sweat, and tears go into those late-night study sessions and trying to cram a last minute 10-page essay into your schedule.
Since my first-time stepping foot on the Bridgewater State campus, I envisioned myself putting on the black and crimson gown on my graduation day and getting the anxious jitters of knowing once I receive my diploma that I am going to be thrown into the real world. However, these unprecedented times that we are facing made those plans take a turn.
When Covid brought things to an abrupt halt, I remember feeling selfish. My dream internship was cut short. I wasn't going to be able to attend my senior year festivities like part-taking in my last Springfest. I wasn't going to be able to have my family cheering me on while I walk the stage under the tent on the Boyden Quad. And while our president, Fred Clark, did promise we would eventually walk the stage and did come through with that promise, it seems unjust that we will be walking after the class of 2021.
However, I think the class of 2020 is more prepared than any other class to take on all of life's challenges and what it may throw our way during our future endeavors. We rolled with the punches. We were able to make it through the hardest classes of our undergrad career online. We are trying to find jobs when it seems like the world had shut down and businesses were closing.
Not everything in life will go our way or come easy. Even when it seems like we have everything all figured out, life keeps us on our toes. We may get laid off from a job. We may have to move across the country and leave our family and friends behind. We may have to switch jobs a hundred times before we find the job of our dreams.
These unprecedented times, gave me a lot of time to reflect that I didn't know I needed. I got to take a step back and see if I'm where I want to be in life, and if not, evaluate what the next steps I have to take are to be there.
Even though I am not sure if I will go back to walk the stage in May 2021, depending on where I am in life, if I knew this was going to happen when I first started college, I still wouldn't change anything. My four years at Bridgewater State have made me into the person I am, and while walking the stage would have been great, it can not begin to define my time there.
I have made some of the greatest friends, broken out of my comfort zone, taken risk, and grown more than I could have imagined four years ago. I feel as though we could not have planned ahead for what these unprecedented times had in store for us, but I believe that it definitely prepared us for what is to come in the future.
