Kaitlin O’Brien
I pulled into the parking lot outside Chase Hall on a hot summer day in early September. My life was about to change forever. I walked in, they handed me my room key, and suddenly, for the first time in my life, I was on my own. No more curfews. No more getting told I couldn’t do something. All the freedom in the world. I was in shock. For the first time in my life I was truly scared. Was this really where I was going to spend the next four years of my life?
As I start to fill out applications for internships and have applied for graduation, I realize that I am the happiest I have ever been and it all started almost four years ago when I was just the scared little girl walking into my dorm room. Despite the negative things my friends said to me about Southern, I realized every single thing they ever said was wrong. The snippy comments like, “oh well it’s so easy to get into, it’s a state school,” and “why would you go there, everybody goes there” mean absolutely nothing to me anymore. I will be proud in May to say I am a Southern Connecticut graduate.
For all my friends or acquaintances that told me Southern is so easy, I’d like one of you to take a journalism class here and then come talk to me. Southern has proven to be everything I have ever wanted and more.
Besides meeting some of the greatest people that I will remain friends with for the rest of my life, whether they are part of the radio station, newspaper or simply just someone I met in my dorm- I really wish I could personally thank every single one of them for touching my life in one way or another. Being involved has proven to be the greatest and most eye-opening experience I have ever gone through in my entire life. Meeting some of these people has made me realize to never take the years you have in college for granted, because in the blink of an eye they will be gone.
As I write this opinion piece as my last one for the semester, I stare at my walls filled with happy pictures. I am happy, and I owe much of my happiness to the school that I chose. Southern wasn’t my first choice. Actually, Southern wasn’t even my second choice. Even if I didn’t want to go here, it was where I was supposed to go. In life you take chances, and I took a chance on Southern.
The friends, the experience, and the education I receive from Southern will go far beyond the day I graduate in May of 2011. I have learned so much about myself and so much about life since coming here as the scared little girl in the fall of 2007. I walk confidently everywhere I go on campus with a smile because I know I did something right and ended up in the right place. I’ll continue to fill out my applications, for internships and for jobs, and I won’t be scared to fail because you won’t get anywhere if you don’t try.
Colonel Sanders tried giving his recipe out over 1,000 times before somebody gave him a chance.
Take chances in life and do it proudly and with a smile. My life has drastically changed from the moment I walked into Chase Hall almost four years ago. When I walk down that stage in May and receive my diploma, I’ll smile because I know my education came from Southern.
