goodbye, sophomore year

"Campus Delusion number one: "When I get out into life ..."
College days are not a time in which to prepare for life. College days are life. The weeks and months spent on a campus constitute a segment of the life of every student.
These days may be preparatory to a larger or even to a smaller life thereafter, but in any diary their record will always embody an actual part of the whole. They are life itself.

Campus Delusion number two: "Then I will ..."
It has been suggested that the "Devil's Soft Spot" is that imaginary time or place in which it will be easier to do what one should, rather than here and now. But life is made up of todays, which are lived one at a time. Any duty neglected today becomes more difficult tomorrow. The will power which should have directed the performance yesterday finds itself weakened by the procrastination until in reality the imagined soft spot of tomorrow turns out to be a harder spot of another today. Industry, regard for time, honesty, thrift, courtesy, helpfulness and all other desirable virtues must be incorporated into life today or never.

Campus Wisdom: "Hail to the morn! This is today!"
Whatever I desire for my life throughout the years to come I will, by the grace of God and careful effort, seek to incorporate therein today and throughout the succeeding days as they come one by one. For I realize that life is but the summation of daily living."

A message from Gervas Carey, my university's president in 1949



Oh what a year it has been. I was a different person at the beginning of sophomore year, and in some ways there has been more of a change in this one year period than the previous year. This has been such a year of growth and exploration in discovering my aesthetics, visions, and motivations. It's so weird how quickly sophomore year went by, and at the same time, the beginning of the year was a lifetime ago--a time before I went on the adventures, faced the challenges, and met amazing people that I have these last few months. This place has been a constant inspiration and motivation for me, and it's almost surreal how wonderful it is and how much I have fallen in love with it. It has given me countless opportunities and has blessed me more than I deserve.



Perhaps the two biggest achievements were the completion of the new yearbook and me winning the Triple "S" Award.

For the yearbook: a team of creatives got together with a unified desire to revamp the yearbook. As the senior photographer, I was responsible for most of the photos within the book, as well as writing a lot of articles. Even though each team member had a particular position, we all contributed in various ways and I couldn't be more proud of the 288 pages we completed together. It was a huge new experience for me, as I had never worked for any sort of publication before, but despite all the stress and sleepless nights and cups of coffee, it was completely worth it to hold The Student Collective in my hands. And now, for the upcoming year, I was hired for the position of Creative Director and will be leading the team for the second year of the collective.

For the Triple "S" Award: I won it last year and was completely blown away by the honor. This year, being the fourth year of the award, all the previous year's winners were competing again and I honestly didn't think I would get it. It seems like once every year (or maybe more often) I have an existential crisis where I question all my decisions in life, but then something like this occurs and everything is okay. It's such a humbling experience and I am truly truly thankful for the award and for everyone who encourages me, because without that encouragement, I don't think I would get very far.

There were also a couple other college publications I was featured in, but I am preparing an in-depth post about that.



And now I am back in Alaska, dreaming up adventures and working from home and everything is beautiful. I have a feeling this will be the best summer yet.