No no, I’m not getting into comedy and improv, I promise! A couple of weeks ago, my dear friend Lucas, who is an admissions office at Seattle University, asked me if I would be interested in being a part of the alumni Q&A as part of an event that he throws for accepted students in the Bay Area. Before we move forward, this is for the class of 2020! How crazy is that?!
Now that we’ve let that sunk in… I’ve been out of school for almost four years now and students from the university still call me every once in awhile asking me if I’ll be able to donate. Since I’m still trying to pay off my loans (like most other people from my year) this isn’t feasible so when Lucas asked me about this favor, I thought – this is something that I can do.
The entire event was such a trip. I totally remember going to campuses and learning about the different programs that universities had to offer with my parents, my aunts, and touring Seattle University’s campus with Kevin. Naturally, all of these high school seniors were somewhat embarrassed to be with their enthusiastic parents, but it was the parents that impressed me the most. When their kids were away, they would come up to me and ask me questions like how safe Seattle was, how the rain was, what I felt like I got the most out of the curriculum, etc. I wasn’t the most easygoing child, okay? I can totally admit that, but I have so much praise for parents for what they do – and mine especially. Shout out to them for caring about where I went to college and helping support me through this first big adult decision that I was making on my own. Yesterday, was a really humbling experience.
It was really funny because I happened to be on the Q&A panel with two other alumni who spoke a lot about the Jesuit values and curriculum and course load whereas my questions were very much student life/culture based and at one point I thought I was answering these questions incorrectly because I was a little bit of the black sheep. Those parents in the audience were probably like – What? How did this girl get through school when she spent three years planning events and hoping to obtain a career in the music industry?
Where I might have slipped up – telling these kids that this is a tough decision to make and that if it isn’t the right one, it isn’t the end of the world because you can always fix it (ie – transfer) lol. my bad.
Where I redeemed myself – telling them that they’ve all worked really hard to get to where they are at and obtaining these acceptance letters. They probably took a lot of hard courses in high school and did a ton of extracurriculars, but it doesn’t stop there. You can’t slow down in college or after you graduate and you must “continue to show your hustle” (yes, I was very proud of this line) because it’s a competitive world out there and everyone wants exactly what you want.
I can’t believe it has been 8 years since I made that decision myself, but wow – what an amazing experience. Four years of life skills, a great education, and friends that I will have for life. Wouldn’t trade it in for anything.