The reality of graduation is only a few weeks away. Part of me doesn’t feel like it’s that close as I continue to work through presentations and papers. It’s not until I’m scheduling my assignments in my planner that the amount of days we have left really hits me. In a few days I will wrap up my internship at McMinnville Habitat for Humanity. Working for Mac Habitat has been a great opportunity to learn about the structures and operations of the service nonprofit sector. I hope to work with an international NGO someday so my time at Habitat has helped me get a better idea of what that industry may look like. My favorite part of the experience has been working with families and hearing the ways in which the new homes strengthen not just their families but the McMinnville community as a whole.

Many of the groups I’m involved with on campus are also coming to a close. In our M.E.Ch.A Club we have recently voted in our new officers for next year. Seeing this group grow over the last four years has been such a gift. When another student and I talked about starting the club my freshman year we had no idea its membership would grow so quickly and that its impact on the campus community would be so positive. I have been truly impressed by my peer’s leadership and commitment. Another group that has created incredible impact on our students is my family away from home, the Linfield College Latinos Adelante group. This group has built strong relationships among our students. It gives us the comfort and courage to succeed at Linfield and I know had it not been for my LCLA family, many of the countless memories I cherish would not have been possible.

Saying goodbye to these two groups will be very difficult. Being a part of these two groups has given me some of my fondest memories from planning Hispanic Heritage Day to volunteering at Mac High for Latino Parent Nights. No matter what we were doing it was always a blast. I will really miss them. Another source of my favorite memories comes from my time abroad. Traveling to England and Costa Rica, I can honestly say, changed my perspective on the world. I opened my eyes to the beautifully complex diversity that is out there and I hope to dedicate much of my future to learning more about it through service. My time after Linfield will be one more step toward this goal.

After graduation I will remain on campus for one more Upward Bound Summer. This will be my fourth summer as a tutor counselor and I am so thankful to get to be a part of summer 2013. Upward Bound changes student’s lives allowing them to see beyond their circumstances to the great potential of what they can accomplish. It goes beyond teaching curriculum to teaching character, confidence and integrity. I am so proud to have been part of this UB family over the years as it has also taught me a great deal and challenged my leadership in many ways. After this Upward Bound summer I will be attending graduate school for a master’s in international development and service. With this degree I hope to work with an international service or relief centered organization to strengthen communities nationally and internationally as well. However first comes first, before I get excited about all that, I have to stay focused on finishing strong academically and appreciating every moment and opportunity I have left with my fellow wildcats. We are almost there!

I graduate in less than a month, on June 2^nd.  I am excited, but saying goodbye to college will be very bittersweet.  The weather is wonderful and sunny and I’m trying to enjoy the beautiful campus as much as I can.  Now that I am just tying up a few loose ends at my internship at Cellar Ridge Construction, I am able to spend time outside, although assignments still are keeping me confined to the computer for much too long!

La Casa Verde, the green building festival, went swimmingly well.  It was amazing to see so much work come together in a great event.  The weather was cloudy but the rain held off, and we even saw a little bit of sun!  I had an amazing group of dedicated volunteers from Linfield at the event, which made everything possible.  They were a diverse group of Greenfield members, swimmers, members of Greek life, and more!  I got to present a Green Achievement Award to a good friend, who was nominated and selected in the ‘student’ category, which was great as well.

This first weekend in May, my Conservation Biology class took a trip to southern Oregon, where we stayed at the Siskiyou Field Institute.  We went on an amazing hike to Babyfoot Lake, right in the middle of where the Biscuit fire burned 10 years ago.  All of the trees are still scorched, but there are young ones coming up!  The vegetation right around the lake was intact, and we got to jump in the water.  On Saturday we went into California to the coast Redwoods forest, and measured and hugged the huge trees.  We also saw some carnivorous plants (darlingtonia) and a whole slew of other cool flora and fauna!

In reflecting on the past four years, I really am overwhelmed by all the amazing memories I have made.  I have grown immensely as a person and have become part of an amazing community.  I think that I could safely say that my most memorable experiences are in my participation on the Linfield swim team and in my study abroad trip to Costa Rica.  I cannot imagine what my college experience would be like without the swim team.  Both swimming and studying abroad were probably the best decisions I have made at Linfield.

After graduation, my parents and I are taking a trip to England, Ireland, and Scotland for a little over two weeks.  I am very excited, as none of us has ever been to any of those countries, and we have ancestral roots in both Ireland and Scotland.  However, it is hard to even think about travelling right now when I am so overwhelmed with how soon it is until I graduate!  After the trip, I will be spending the summer doing an internship at Northwest Trek, a wildlife park near Eatonville, Washington (about an hour to an hour and a half south of Seattle).  I will be interning with the conservation education programs, and I will mainly be giving presentations on different conservation-related topics to the public.  I am extremely excited and am looking forward to exploring whether or not I want to pursue a career in environmental education through this experience.  I am also excited to spend the summer in such a beautiful place.  I will be living in a house on the property that is open to interns and volunteers.

I am planning to stay on at Northwest Trek through September, and then serve a 10-month stint with the Americorp NCCC program (National Civilian Community Corps).  I have been accepted to the Pacific region campus, based out of Sacramento.  I will be assigned to a group that will be sent to different sites to do service projects in a variety of fields (environmental stewardship, education, housing, disaster relief, etc.) for 4-8 weeks at a time.  I think that this program will be a good match for my desire to dedicate time to service and travel around a bit.  Beyond that, I really do not have a plan, other than to get a job after volunteering.  We’ll see!

I am so very thankful to my family and friends for their support throughout my time at Linfield (which has been remarkably short!).  I am especially grateful to my parents for financing my education and encouraging me to pursue my dreams.  While I am, along with most of the senior class, a little nervous about my impending entry into ‘the real world,’ I also can’t wait to see where life will take me.  The college experience has truly been everything I could have hoped for and more.

Spring is definitely in the air, although it is still occasionally freezing overnight.  I recently went to the fair where seniors are told stuff about graduation.  I thought that we were supposed to fill out a form with height and weight to order a cap and gown, but in reality they were selling them then and there.  It was sort of a shocking experience.  I now have a cap and gown in my possession, which is just all-around weird.  Once again, I can’t believe it’s now basically two months until graduation.  The cap and gown are in the back of my closet out of sight for the time being, so I am not constantly dwelling on how crazy it is to be graduating and how little of my time in college is left.  This past month I have participated in my last Intramural basketball season with my fellow swimmers.  I can honestly say I am as dismal at basketball as I was as a freshman.  Things are picking up at my internship at Cellar Ridge, planning La Casa Verde.  I am in the process of recruiting volunteers, coordinating tickets to the Wine Maker’s Dinner, harvesting nominations for the Green Achievement Awards, and much more!

I feel like I’m enjoying what McMinnville has to offer a lot more this semester than ever before.  In the past, I’ve gotten off campus to go to my after-school care job and to go to the store, and occasionally ventured downtown to watch the alien parade or eat out.  But I am downtown several times a week now for my internship.  I also made a visit to Glacial Rock (a few miles west of town) for the first time on a star-gazing adventure.  It was pitch-black when I was walking up the path to the humongous chunk of rock.  It would be cool to go in the daytime, too.  I have to ask myself though, why haven’t I been there before in four years?

Spring break seemed especially early this year, but as it approached I became really ready for it.  Just like the past few years, I have just been hanging out at home.  Unfortunately this year I have been slammed with a bunch of assignments due right after break, so I have been inside on the computer instead of outside enjoying the fabulous springy weather.  I also have a midterm that is the Monday we get back from break, so I have had to study for that.  I guess I can’t complain too much, since it is my only true “midterm,” or test that actually falls pretty much in the middle of the term.  Over the last few years, I’ve realized that my study habits, although apparently successful, really aren’t “textbook” or highly conventional.  I refuse to make note cards.  In fact I hate them with a passion.  They just strike me as a waste of time and energy.  I do like to write everything down that I need to remember, but I write in shorthand and probably am the only person who can read my notes.  I know it’s better to study in short intervals, spread out before the exam.  But in college, that is borderline impossible.  I consider myself a good student, but usually I study all at once or in a couple of long sessions the day before a test, because I can’t find time any earlier.  Only a couple of times in my college career, however, have I studied into the wee hours of the morning and had to rely on coffee (which I very rarely drink!).  I have never pulled a complete all-nighter cramming for a test or finishing a paper.  I consider this an accomplishment. Hopefully I won’t mess up my track record in the next two months. Some might say it’s part of the college experience, but it really just sounds miserable to me!

Spring break this year unfortunately ends on Easter Sunday, which means I will spend a fair chunk of Easter on the bus, rather than with my family.  It is especially unfortunate because Easter falls on my mom’s birthday this year.  I hope that the next two months will end my time at Linfield on a good note.  I look forward to celebrating the spring weather with some outdoor volleyball and Frisbee with friends.  I am also excited to see the work I have put into La Casa Verde culminate in a fantastic event! And you never know, perhaps my midterm will be a giant April Fool’s Day joke…

It’s hard to believe I’ve finished my last set of midterms at Linfield. I can remember as a freshman being so worried about them but I think that mostly came from my uncertainty of how to handle them. As time has gone by, however, I’ve become more confident in my strategies and I’ve learned how to adjust my study habits to best fit my situation. For example, as a freshman I shared a space with roommates so I would often study late in the evening when things got quieter. This has since changed. I now study in the afternoons as I have a room to myself and my ability to retain information seems to decrease as the day progresses. A sign of my evolving years I’m sure. Looking back I can also remember studying only the material I had learned for that particular class but this strategy no longer applies. As you get deeper into your major you discover you are consistently referencing material from previous classes and concepts from outside disciplines.

I think an important tip to remember then is to find a study pattern that fits your particular work load for that specific semester but then be ready to adjust it as time goes on. Factors such as course levels, extracurricular activities, roommate situations and number of credits all play a role in finding the best tactics. Flexibility is essential to achievement. After midterms many of us will celebrate with some downtime, spring break! This year I will be returning home to Gresham for the week. This is the typical destination for my breaks over the years and I’ve always looked forward to the time with family. However, being my senior year, I find myself torn. I am happy to have a break but knowing I have limited time with my friends makes being away from Linfield difficult. That said I also know I need the time of relaxation and reflection on top of wanting to see my family so I’m just a little divided. Time is quickly moving and graduation is getting so close!

It seems unreal to be moving into my last few months at Linfield. It’s a truth I think I didn’t really start to process until Jan term. I spent this last Jan term in Costa Rica studying environmental health. It was an unforgettable experience in so many ways, the landscape, the culture and the people. It was a month full of reflection in faith, deepening relationships and academic growth. Having never taken a health sciences class before, I was able to learn new concepts and grow from the insights of my fellow “Costa Cats,” as we called ourselves. I learned a new academic perspective but also continuously related my own major of intercultural communication. Being fluent in Spanish I was able to engage in many thought provoking conversations with local Ticos and developed connections that deepened my understanding of their worldview. I also enjoyed comparing cross-cultural differences and similarities between my Mexican heritage and the Tico lifestyle. Each of my fellow Costa Cats contributed a matchless joy and purpose to the trip! I only wish I had met them all sooner to be able to enjoy them longer.

 This thought is one I keep having as I walk on campus from activity to activity.The people I have grown to love here on campus are some of the most supportive, encouraging and caring people I have. Many I have known throughout my four years and some I barely met a month ago, yet not being able to see them as regularly as I do now will be hard.  Don’t get me wrong, it is a very exciting time taking that next step. I guess being in my last semester is really a big mix of emotions. I am happy to see what opportunities await in my next institution but don’t want to leave this loving community. I want to continue challenging myself academically but can’t imagine better professors. I am enthusiastically waiting to hear back from graduate schools but not ready to say good bye. It’s a back and forth kind of game. In the end, however, I know that my Linfield community will always be here for me and I won’t be leaving forever. Commencement will come but I have some time before that! For now my focus will be on finishing strong academically and making time to spend with faculty, staff and friends while I have them close. This semester is going to be amazing!

It’s been a while since my last post, and a lot has been going on!  It’s hard to believe that we are into March already.  In Jan term, I took French 101, which I enjoyed quite a bit, although it was frustrating at times.  Because I was probably twelve when I had my first Spanish class, I guess I forgot how challenging it is to not be able to say anything you want to say.  Also, middle school and high school introductory language classes are more accepting of English speaking in class!  I’m sad this was my last Jan term, because Jan term has been one of my favorite times.  I’ve loved focusing on just one class, and swimming.  Swimming, too, has now come to an end for me.  The week before Jan term began the team took a training trip to California.  We practiced in the University of Redlands pool and worked our butts off.  I have never felt that exhausted and broken down from working out before.  In the week, we swam over 40 miles.  All the work paid off, though, and we had a great conference championship meet the weekend before Spring term started.  I went personal best times, which was a great way to end my swimming career.  I’m definitely sad that collegiate athletics is at an end for me, because participating on this team has likely been the best and most rewarding thing I have done in college.

This term I am taking Environmental Sociology, Conservation Biology, Environmental Literature, and an introductory Geographic Information System course.  I am liking all of these classes so far, although GIS can be frustrating because computers frustrate me easily!  Nonetheless, things are going well.  I am looking forward to a trip to the Redwoods with Conservation Biology in early May!  We also are going on a fieldtrip to the Portland zoo!  Aside from classes, I have an amazing internship that I am doing this semester, with Cellar Ridge Construction, a business downtown.  The internship is centered around organizing the company’s annual green building festival, La Casa Verde, which will take place on April 20^th this year.  I’m enjoying this very much and am extremely thankful for such a great opportunity!  Between working at Cellar Ridge and my classes, I am staying busy of course.  One challenge for me is that all my classes are quite late in the day, and I am accustomed to having them in the mornings.  Just now, in the fourth week of classes, I’m getting into a routine with times to exercise and study in the mornings.

Knowing this semester is my last is definitely bittersweet.  I know I’m not fully ready to leave Linfield, but I think I’m nearing the point where I want to be done with school.  Who knows, I could very well go for a master’s at some point, but I wouldn’t want to consider that for a while.  As much as I’d like to stay in touch with all the great friends I’ve made here, I know that won’t be possible to the extent that I’d like, as well all pursue so many different paths.  But, all the more reason to live up the college experience while I still can!

Its time for the holidays again! December is here which means winter break with family and friends but not before we take a few finals first. Finals begin on Monday and this semester I will be taking three finals. I have two that consist of papers and presentations and the third which is a written test. It’s often easy to get so overwhelmed with finals that we forget it’s Christmas but I’ve been trying to be mindful this year and keep the Christmas spirit alive in little ways. For example my roommates and I decorated our apartment; we hung up a few ornaments and garland around our living room and even got a baby tree! Having the Christmas lights glow off the tree make studying for finals just a little bit easier. I have also made sure to keep a steady supply of candy canes handy for when we need to refuel. Christmas being my favorite holiday, I can’t wait to be home to celebrate with my family; exams will be behind me and my last Jan Term ahead.

This year will actually be my fourth Jan Term at Linfield. It’s always such a nice time because you only have to focus on one class and the campus always seems more quiet and peaceful. What makes this Jan Term unique from all the rest is I will be going off campus and studying abroad in Costa Rica! Our class will be exploring the environmental health issues of the country. Specifically, we will be looking at the importance of sustainable, balanced living on health and the rich biodiversity Costa Rica has to offer.  While I have been abroad before to England, I expect this trip to be very different. I’m interested in seeing how the Costa Rican culture will vary from both the English and American cultures since it is a Spanish speaking country with a hot climate. I know this trip will teach me a great deal about our earth’s natural resources and balanced living. I feel so blessed to be able to make one last journey abroad while at Linfield and plan on making every second count!

Right now is pretty busy, since there are just three weeks in between Thanksgiving break and Christmas break.  We are now on the last week of classes, before finals next week.  I don’t have any final exams, only final papers and presentations.  That is nice, but I do have to get a lot done in the next few days.  I can’t believe that after this I will have just one semester left of college!  I will be here during Jan Term, as I have been every year, since it is part of the swimming season.  I love Jan Term because you only have to focus on one test, so there is more time to relax and spend with friends than during the semester.  This year I am going to take French 101, which I am excited about.  I love languages and have never taken French.  I will be fulfilling my last requirement to graduate during the spring, so I could pick whatever I wanted to take during this Jan Term.  I think it might be kind of hard to take a semester of language in just a month, but I’m looking forward to it.  My team stays on campus during Jan Term break also, which is really fun because we have no commitments other than swimming!  This year, our conference championship meet will be at the end of Jan Term break, right before the semester starts.  In the past it has usually been the first weekend after classes start.  I think it will be nice to have it when no one has any assignments and books to lug around on the trip!

We just had our team Christmas dinner and white elephant gift exchange at Golden Valley Brewery.  It is a little bittersweet that this is the last one that the other seniors and I will attend!  I brought a puzzle and an old national geographic trivia game I bought at a thrift store at home.  I came out of the evening with a bag full of cupcake and cookie mixes, so I was quite happy about that.  My freshman year I ended up with a plunger and toilet seat.  My roommates and I have decorated our apartment for Christmas, and I even went to a tree farm with some friends living off campus to cut down a tree for their house.  All this has made me really excited for the holidays.  After Christmas this year the swim team will be taking a training trip to University of Redlands in California.  We have not taken a training trip in the time that I have been here, so I am really glad that we are going to this year.  We will leave a couple of days after Christmas and come back to campus right before Jan Term begins.  Looking forward to the holidays is definitely motivating me to get these projects done and go home!  Merry Christmas!

If I ever said that time was flying by in the past, it was nothing compared to now.  I honestly do not know how it is mid-November.  The holidays are practically here, and the semester will be over in a few short weeks.  Some friends and I just had a pre-Thanksgiving celebration in my apartment, which involved eating a ton of food, especially pie.  As soon as we get back from Thanksgiving break, we’ll be able to put up Christmas decorations and blast Christmas music constantly.  We refrain from doing so until after Thanksgiving.

I registered for my last semester of classes at the beginning of the month.  I am going to take French 101 in Jan term, just because I want to.  I am excited to try something completely new.  In the spring I will be taking Environmental Sociology, Environmental Literature, Conservation Biology, and Introduction to GIS (Geographic Information Systems).  I am a little nervous for the GIS class because computers are not my strong suit, but in general I am excited for the semester.  My friends who are seniors and I agree that it is weird to be registered for our last semester!

We have had our first swim meets against Whitman, Whitworth, Pacific Lutheran, and Puget Sound this month, which were hard but we did well as a whole.  We have been working out really hard and I think the team will have a very good season.  I have also been keeping busy doing some Spanish tutoring.  I got to volunteer at Sue Buel elementary for its Kindergarten Magic event as well, which was a lot of fun.  I got to talk to parents and kids about activities they can do at home to help the children learn to read, and give them materials and books for free.  It is an awesome program and it was nice to be able to help out with it.

As always I am excited to have a week to relax at home and visit with friends and family.  I will be bringing some class work with me, but mostly just to get ahead in my free time, since my lighter class load this semester has been fairly relaxed homework wise.  I need to enjoy it now because I will have four classes again in the spring!  The only other time I had just three classes was my first semester, which seemed like a lot then.  I think I have improved in my ability to balance school, swimming, and socializing since freshman year.  I think my sophomore and junior self would tell my freshman self to not try to do too many things, and remember to get enough sleep and down time.  But my senior self is not so good at remembering this.  I love being in college and I don’t want to waste opportunities, so I am having to make a conscious effort this year to not stretch myself too thin, and also to not procrastinate homework!

M.E.Ch.A. Club’s Day of the Dead alter

It always seems to be the case that rights before Thanksgiving break classes and outside activities get a little busier. While my pre-break load was definitely heavier this year, it didn’t get overwhelming because it involved work I enjoyed doing. One of these pre-break activities was putting on a M.E.Ch.A. club event for Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. The event included a Day of the Dead alter display, a presentation explaining its history and Mexican hot chocolate and bread all open to the Linfield community. It was a lot of fun to see all the members come together to make the event happen. Another outside event I was able to attend was the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute in Portland. The institute was a daylong conference with inspiring guest speakers and workshops. The stories I heard that day from workshop leaders and conference facilitators were full of perseverance and commitment to action. They reminded us that, as Latino leaders, education gave us power to create change but also held a great responsibility to give back to others.

Wildcats at the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute

Aside from outside activities, academics also kept me busy. I registered for my last set of Linfield classes which was definitely a bitter sweet feeling. The class I’m most excited about for next semester is gendered communication that my advisor Brenda will be teaching. I also recently wrapped up my senior thesis paper and will be giving a presentation on it after the break. In addition to my class work, I’ve also been busy investigating graduate schools and have narrowed down my program of interest to a master’s in international development and service. I will be submitting applications to two schools later this semester. It is easy to see how important organization and time management are to completing these responsibilities successfully. Of course these are skills that develop over time. Over the years, I have learned that you can’t do everything and it’s ok to say no to some activities. This is hard for me because I like to be very involved but I have come to see that it is better to do a few things well then do many things poorly. So I try and continuously evaluate my participation in all that I do and if I become imbalanced, I know it’s time for me to step back. Preserving this balance is crucial!