My junior year is coming to a close and in a few short months, I’ll be a senior at Ursinus College. I will be one of few who has not one degree already under their belt but two. I am ready to move into the next phase of life. The one thing I think about is how my past defines me but at the same time haunts me. People say the past makes you who you are but I think where you decide to go from the past, what decisions you make regarding your past make you who you are. I didn’t have an easy start to life. I lived in a home filled with domestic abuse and addictions. Some find sanctuary in school but I was viciously bullied. I had no safe place, which is why I turned to my imagination.

So many things have happened in the past year. I graduated college with an associates degree. I worked had to achieve that piece of paper and I am happy I went to community college before heading to Ursinus to achieve my bachelor's degree. I really like it there but community college gave me a better capacity to appreciate the chance I have. Ursinus is hard but I know I am getting a good education.

Within this past year, I fell in love. I was given a chance to heal from a bad relationship. I was taught how relationships should be like despite seeing different. Like when someone knows you are sick so they stop at the store and get you soup. Or if you forget to buy your mom a birthday card (sorry mom), you can ask him to pick it up. Things that seemed so small, were actually so big. I learned to never overlook kindness in a lover. His attractiveness is what caught my attention but his heart is what I fell in love with.

One of my biggest accomplishments was the fact that I became a Contributing Editor for Odyssey. This was one of my proudest moments because it gets me ready for my future career. I stayed in this position for a couple months but then something even better happened. I saw the signs that I was being primed to take over as Editor-in-Chief. What I thought was one of my proudest moments, was nothing compared to this. I am only a few weeks into being an EIC but I love every second of working to better my team. I have kinks to work out but I know everything will be okay.

This year was huge. Like really huge. This year is the year I got a true taste of my career. I edited before but never for a company as big as Odyssey. I never thought I'd fall in love the way I have. I guess you never know how things will turn out but if you work hard towards making yourself happy, then not knowing is pretty okay. I know my future is bright because I will keep looking forward throwing words and thoughts into the void and, who knows, maybe one day I'll be CEO of a publishing company but until then I'll just keep chugging along.