It’s rather interesting where life takes us sometimes, isn’t it?
If you’d asked me four years ago what I planned on doing with my life, the answer would have been very different from what it is now.
At that time, I was about to graduate from high school, and I’d been recently admitted to Edinboro University.
I was resigned to attending this school for my freshman year, certain that once that year was up, I’d be able to transfer somewhere else—somewhere better—some place with a name that everyone would recognize.
I was confused about what I wanted to do with my life, but at the same time, I had the snobbish idea that anything Edinboro could possibly offer me wouldn’t be enough.
I’d spent the last few years in boarding school, with peers who were running off to places like Harvard and Juilliard once they had their diplomas.
Me? I’d decided not to follow the career path I’d planned on since middle school, and in my panic, had decided to attend Edinboro for a year, just to get some general education courses under my belt while I tried to figure things out.
But I had no idea what was waiting for me.
During that first tumultuous year, I tried so hard to ignore all the good things that were going on.
I took the basic English course that everyone has to take, and within weeks had decided to declare my major in writing. I took a philosophy course on (of all things, really) the meaning of life. I even made friends, despite my initial refusal to make any sort of emotional investment in this place.
And I discovered that I could still be challenged, and well-educated, and inspired, at a small, little-known school instead of a big-name one.
I don’t mean to get all weepy here; like anything, being at Edinboro has presented me with my share of frustration and heartbreak.
But it has also presented me with extraordinary opportunities.
Here, I rediscovered my love for music through the vocal ensembles I was a part of.
Here, I was able to study abroad in Mexico for two sun-drenched weeks.
Here, I was a member of the Tams dance team for a semester. Here, I got involved with the Spectator, loved it, and decided I’d like to stay in the writing and publishing field for the rest of my professional life.
I love my major; I love my job; I love the ladies over at Skipjack’s who always tell me to have a nice day.
I’ve learned to (occasionally) love the snow.
But this is not about me: this is about all of us. I have met so many people who have resigned themselves to a life of mediocrity based on any number of factors.
You can have a mediocre educational career at Edinboro, if you choose to.
But you can also have a rich and fulfilling one. The same goes for any school, any job, any place, any life.
There will always be aspects of our lives that we cannot change, but the ones that we do have control over, we must do everything possible to make things just as we want them.
That’s what I tried to do, and it seems to have worked.
As happy as I am to be graduating and moving on to new things, I couldn’t be happier with my decision to come to Edinboro.
They say that “great things happen here,” and as prone as we all are to make jokes about our slogan, I am also inclined to say it’s absolutely true.
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