Reminiscence Sets In

As I near graduation after four fast-flying years, I’m becoming increasingly nostalgic about my undergraduate experience. In my growing amount of reflective moments about college, I’m already realizing the uniqueness of this exciting environment, and how much I’ll miss it. My appreciation has increased exponentially through the years, and I find myself feeling like most seniors must around this time, that is, true gratitude and the urge to run up to every freshman and advise them to soak up every minute of this.

Coming to LMU as a freshman I had no declared major, no four-year plan, and no clear direction for my educational path. I took a handful of core classes, and for a while considered business as a plan of action; it seemed to make post-college financial sense. However, I never quite appreciated those early classes. When after two basic English classes I found myself craving more writing in my curriculum, I recognized a major I could see myself caring about. In retrospect, declaring English as a major was a fitting choice, and with my personal history of writing that extends far beyond formal schooling, I’m only surprised I didn’t make it earlier.

Once I found a niche and moved beyond core classes to those that interested me more, education reached a new level of meaning. And that significance and value, it seems to me, is the essence of higher education. My classes in junior and senior years felt tailored to my interests; I began to devote my time and energy to them not out of desire for good grades, but because I truly cared about them. As a whole, the classes I’ve taken in the last four years have enriched my understanding of concepts far and wide, and have only made me eager for the same type of open minded discussion, research, and excellent instruction in the future.

The last four years’ combined experience goes far beyond the classroom level. What I’ll miss most after graduation this spring is this charged environment of intellectual discussion, new ideas, debates and panels, widespread shared interest, contributing to a community that I highly value. These are the reasons I feel that fusion of gratitude and nostalgia; I’m beginning to see the remarkable aspects of my surroundings.

The collage of experiences that make up my time at LMU are dear to me, and I fear it will be hard to find such a lifestyle in the future. What else could provide such amazing classes, a bi-weekly, energized convo hour, the chance to go to the Beverly Hills hotel to meet Holocaust survivors, an on-campus farmers’ market, service organizations, a student art gallery, the opportunity to help publish a journal, current speakers and music from the community right here on campus, all with this picturesque backdrop of West Los Angeles? I’ll miss LMU, but at least with such memories to look back on I will no doubt have motivation to pursue graduate school education in hopes of finding more experiences like these.

Corinna Ace