As my last Finals Week approaches, I get to sit back and take a look at my collegiate career. I'm sure you've all heard on several occasions the hackneyed phrase, "College is the best years of your life." So was it?
There's no doubt I was able to do some amazing things these past four years. I've watched a Big Ten football game from the roof of Kinnick Stadium. I've ridden in the cargo hold during the Blue Angels' Fat Albert air show run. I performed in Air Jam dressed as Darth Vader.
In the three years I was at Ball State and worked for The Ball State Daily News, I covered more than 250 events, including more than 170 sporting events. How many of you can say you went to more than 10?
In a grand total, I took more than 60,000 photos for the paper. I won 12 awards, seven national and five state. I'm walking out of here with a job in one of the toughest job industries in the country today. All this without ever having taken a single photography class.
So in the end, am I going to look back and think that these were the best years of my life? Well, I kind of hope not. If you think about it, that statement is a bit depressing. I still have (if I'm lucky) at least 50 years to live. How sad would it be if these last four years were my best and my life never got better?
Looking it over, the actual scholastic part of college was rather worth forgetting. There were very few classes or professors I enjoyed, and in almost every case, the stress destroyed any semblance of fun that existed. I didn't feel like I was expanding my mind. I felt like I was jumping through hoops, just doing what I needed to so I could go on to the next checkpoint.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure I feel a great sense of accomplishment in graduating. I don't feel like I've climbed a mountain or finished a marathon. I feel like a dog that's finished an obstacle course.
In the end, graduation feels anticlimactic. What do we get for all our time and money? We get to sit. For hours. And then we are handed a piece of paper followed later by a note asking for more money.
I wholeheartedly disagree with the idea that this is supposed to be the best time of my life. I've had a lot of fun here and made some very good friends that are very important to me, but I have bigger plans in my life.
I'm going to travel the world. I'm going to start a family. I'm going to write a book. I'm never going to be satisfied with my work and continue getting better.
I'm sure I'll look back on this time and miss working at the Daily News and the friends I made here. But in the end, I see this as just the beginning.
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