Dear Stetson,

Thank you for transforming my experience as a college student. When I came on this campus as a freshman, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Now four years later, I am a transformed person from the shy, timid high schooler that stepped onto this campus three years ago. Now I'm louder, hyper, and more blunt with people, which may or may not be a good thing depending on how well I know you.

Thank you for giving me some of the best professors that I have ever had the fortune to be in their presence. In the years I have been here, I have learned more information about Metaphor rhetoric, or Speech rhetoric than I ever did in high school. I learned about how physics can be applied to music, how to talk in front of a group of students, how Mesopotamia took over of Europe, how Medium is the how the message plays into how we communicate as a society, and many other useful things. Thank you for the hard classes because, despite the tears, I feel like I have more knowledge graduating than I ever could have with them.

Thank you for helping me grow as a person and giving me the best group of friends that I could ever ask for. I would have never imagined coming into Stetson I would have met the incredible friends that I have. I have met so many people, from all walks of life; who have faced challenges in their lives vastly different from mine. Who are from other states, countries, towns than where I am from. Who have done incredible things in their lives, who have all decided to come to this small little university in this small town. Who have made my life so much better just by being in it.

Thank you for giving me the best experience that I could of ever asked for. Throughout my ups and downs as a college student. There has never been any doubt that this is the place that I wanted to be. Stetson's not for everyone. I fact Stetson will never be for everyone, but it was the perfect place for me. There is no where else that I could of imagined myself at.

Last but not least, I wanted to thank my high school AVID teacher. If she hadn't of recommended Stetson to my mother, I would of ignored the thousands of emails that I got from Stetson my junior year of high school and I would of ended up somewhere else in the state of Florida. Thank you for putting me on the list for the AVID field trip my junior year of high school to Stetson even though I hated my first visit here. You are one of the reasons why I came here in the first place, and why AVID is beneficial to any "middle of the pack" high schooler who wants to go to college, because as a graduating student I realized how much AVID helped me not only in high school, but with preparing for college as well.

Even after graduation, Stetson will always be home to me. They say high school is the best four years of your life. I have to disagree however because Stetson has been the best four years of my life so far. There's so many wonderful experiences that are yet to come. It's safe to say however that college has been wonderful for me.

Thank you again Stetson, for everything.

Sincerely,

Caity Bryant

PS: Shout out to all of the people who spell my name correctly on the first try. Y'all are the real MVP's.