2008 Woodie Awards
Student fears real-world experience after graduation
Laura McCawley
Issue date: 4/13/06 Section: Opinion
So, I know I can't speak for all graduating seniors, but I, for one, am terrified.
Between a bad case of senioritis and rapidly approaching deadlines for papers and final projects, I am ready to be done with this higher education business.
But as much as I am ready to go on to the next part of my life, I cannot even describe how much I will miss Warrensburg.
As much as I complain about how small this town is and its lack of restaurants and clothing stores, it has become my home away from home.
The people I have met here, especially my sorority sisters, will become my life-long friends.
I am excited about my next course in life, but I am also dreading it. I will have to go from carefree nights on Pine Street to suddenly having a career.
It will be a big adjustment, but I know I am ready to make it.
The transition will be made easier because I will only be in Kansas City, but I am sure that I will be drawn back to Warrensburg more than once on the weekends.
Visiting will not be the same, crashing on someone's couch, and leaving to be back at work by Monday morning. I suddenly feel very old at 22.
Then there is the added pressure of looking for a job in the midst of trying to get everything ready for graduation.
I am so anxious about finding a job.
I do not want to have to move home with my parents.
Honestly who really wants to live with their parents after having their own apartment?
I am also worried because I want my parents to feel like my college education was worth it, and if I come home a month after graduation with all my bags in tow, I think they may begin to wonder when it is that I am leaving.
I cannot believe how much I have changed since I first came to Central three years ago.
I came here with the same political views and opinions as my parents, and that changed when I began to realize I could decide things for myself.
High school, and everything that was important for those four years, seems like another lifetime.
My experience and my education here at Central have been invaluable.
I realize how fortunate I am to have been given the opportunity to attend college and be exposed to as much as I have.
So, it is inevitable that I will cry at graduation when I think of all that I am leaving behind.
I can only hope the best is yet to come.
Between a bad case of senioritis and rapidly approaching deadlines for papers and final projects, I am ready to be done with this higher education business.
But as much as I am ready to go on to the next part of my life, I cannot even describe how much I will miss Warrensburg.
As much as I complain about how small this town is and its lack of restaurants and clothing stores, it has become my home away from home.
The people I have met here, especially my sorority sisters, will become my life-long friends.
I am excited about my next course in life, but I am also dreading it. I will have to go from carefree nights on Pine Street to suddenly having a career.
It will be a big adjustment, but I know I am ready to make it.
The transition will be made easier because I will only be in Kansas City, but I am sure that I will be drawn back to Warrensburg more than once on the weekends.
Visiting will not be the same, crashing on someone's couch, and leaving to be back at work by Monday morning. I suddenly feel very old at 22.
Then there is the added pressure of looking for a job in the midst of trying to get everything ready for graduation.
I am so anxious about finding a job.
I do not want to have to move home with my parents.
Honestly who really wants to live with their parents after having their own apartment?
I am also worried because I want my parents to feel like my college education was worth it, and if I come home a month after graduation with all my bags in tow, I think they may begin to wonder when it is that I am leaving.
I cannot believe how much I have changed since I first came to Central three years ago.
I came here with the same political views and opinions as my parents, and that changed when I began to realize I could decide things for myself.
High school, and everything that was important for those four years, seems like another lifetime.
My experience and my education here at Central have been invaluable.
I realize how fortunate I am to have been given the opportunity to attend college and be exposed to as much as I have.
So, it is inevitable that I will cry at graduation when I think of all that I am leaving behind.
I can only hope the best is yet to come.