We’ve reached the final month of the academic year. The time will soon come to pack up our crowded rooms, thank our professors and say goodbye to our friends and classmates. Looking back, I feel as though I have grown just a little bit more since my freshman year. This year was blessed with new friendships; greater commitment to my faith; new skills from work and a range of responsibilities on campus and in the community. Yes another Linfield year full of hard work, challenges and growth.
While it is shocking to be at the end of one more year, I am very excited for what is to come. This summer, I am once again working for Upward Bound. This will be my second summer and knowing what a life changing experience it was last summer, I can’t wait! This program pushes me to be better than I knew I could be. It forces me to try and do things I am too afraid to do and it allows me to experience just being a kid. Our students are all first-generation, low-income students. This demographic of high school students is one I once belonged to myself and can closely relate to. Having the opportunity to inspire, support and learn with the program’s students, coordinators and fellow councilors is truly an honor.
After Upward Bound I will return home. This will be crucial because it’s the last bit of time I will be home before I leave for England in the fall. To be completely honest, I feel being that far from my family for five months will be one of the hardest things I ever have to do. Friends continuously remind me that it’s the new age of facebook and skype but I can’t really articulate how important they are to me and how technology just won’t be enough. None the less, I’m excited and a little nervous for what’s in store. This opportunity is one I had always hoped for but I don’t think I ever really believed would happen. Even now having been accepted to the program, it’s so surreal that it might not hit me until I am actually sitting on the plane. I know what an amazing blessing this opportunity is and I intend to make it unforgettable.