Today, I watched three of my friends from the College of Creative Studies walk across the stage in their caps and gowns. As their names were called and the applause followed, I felt this quiet ache settle in—pride, of course, but also a strange sense of stillness. Like the world had paused for a moment to let me feel everything at once.
I’m not graduating just yet. But being there today, watching people I’ve grown alongside wrap up their college journey, made everything feel a little more final. The late nights, the early mornings, the hallway catch-ups, the club meetings that ran way too long but felt too important to end—it’s all starting to fold into memory.
When I first stepped onto this campus, I didn’t know how much it would shape me. I didn’t expect to lead anything, let alone the largest STEM organization here. I didn’t expect to find myself neck-deep in data pipelines or figuring out how to balance SQL queries with paint nights and Doordash orders. And I definitely didn’t expect to find such meaningful friendships in such chaotic, unexpected ways.
College wasn’t just about the degree—it was about building a version of myself I didn’t even know I was capable of becoming. Someone who’s driven, but not afraid to laugh at herself. Someone who can hold her own in a room of engineers, but still stays up until 4AM wondering about the “what ifs.” Someone who’s still figuring it all out—and learning to be okay with that.
It’s not quite my turn to walk yet, but it's coming faster than I’m ready for. And when it does in just a few days, I hope I’ll remember this feeling: the bittersweet beauty of being in between—at the end of an era, not quite at the beginning of a new one.
So here’s to the friends who walked today. And here’s to all of us, carrying these lessons with us even after the curtains fall on these years we will cherish forever.
