Going toward the Light

I can see it!  The light at the end of the tunnel...it's so close I can almost touch it.

Fellow students, this is my final semester with UAA before receiving my Bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies & Biology.  In May, I will say goodbye to all of you and step across this bright threshold into a new world of possibility.  I will no longer be an undergraduate, no longer a UAA student, no longer a Mat-Su College Student Ambassador.  I almost can't believe I've made it!  I got so used to telling people that I would finish in "a couple more years" that I lost track of how time was passing...and now my time has come.

Thankfully, my final semester is a relaxed one.  I have just three classes and a 4-credit internship, all of which I am thoroughly enjoying.  It's the best I could have hoped for.  I'm ending my undergraduate education on a high note.  All the previous frustrations, obstacles, and tedious plodding that I endured to get to this place is nearly forgotten in the elation of finally seeing the end.  My perseverance has not been wasted.  I can start to pat myself on the back for sticking to my goals and seeing them to their end.

I realize that to be actually finished, to have reached this goal, I must hold that beautiful certificate in my eager hands.  But I want to say my farewell to this blog, and to those few who have read it, before that time comes.  I don't want to risk forgetting in the chaos of final preparations, graduation ceremonies, and summer plans.  I want to make sure that I say "Thank you" to those whom I've befriended along the way, who have been supportive of my efforts, and who have been encouraged by my words.  Thank you.

As I said in my first blog here at the Non-traditional, "we're all in the same college-life boat."  Don't forget that graduation is part of college life!  It's not all tests and homework, it's also finishing.  Some of us may experience college life more than once, some will graduate more than once.  But I hope that by sharing my experiences we have somehow bonded in a supportive way.   If I can grant one more bit of encouragement to you, it will be to prove that reaching your goal is possible.  It may seem like you are getting nowhere (and sometimes like you're going backwards), but just keep putting one foot in front of the other toward the light and eventually you will make it.  I am proof. 

So now, I say farewell, but only in part.  This is the end of this blog, but you can still find me until the end of April at the Mat-Su Student Ambassador blog called "Building Bridges".  Just click the blue "b" on the college homepage and you'll see it.  I will also continue my nature blog called "Down to Earth" indefinitely, which is linked to this site.  Thank you for joining me on my adventure and I wish you all the very best on your own endeavors.  Now, I go toward the light...