Looking back on my four years at The College of Wooster, I donít know how exactly I feel about the experiences I have had. In a way, it almost feels as if I just moved into room 216 of the Holden Annex as a first-year. And now, ironically, I am living in room 216 of Armington Hall as a senior and am about to embark into the ìreal world” away from the Wooster bubble.Iím not scared to graduate; in fact, I canít wait. I am definitely ready to move on from this place and get on with my life. Four years has been almost more than enough for me at this school.
Honestly, the only thing that bothers me about graduating is having people constantly asking me what Iím going to do after graduation. Quite frankly I donít know ó and I almost donít really care. I just want to graduate and peace out of this joint.
For anyone who knows me, itís more than obvious that I have never been super excited about going to Wooster and have at times even said, ìI hate Wooster.” Cynical and sarcastic, I donít know any other way to act. Itís just my nature. In a way, I do hate Wooster. The only reason I came was because of a merit scholarship I received; if it helped my parents pay for my education than I was more than happy to do it, even if it meant not going to my first school of choice.I dislike Wooster because I donít necessarily feel that Iím as close to the faculty as the school makes it out to be when you are deciding on colleges to attend. Most of the professors I really liked and got to know were visiting professors, with the exception of a select few. Some of the facilities are disappointing as well, such as the Physical Education Center. I guess I donít understand why Security needs new uniforms and vehicles instead of something more useful to the student body.
Despite my gripes with Wooster, I have learned a lot from my time here. While I canít necessarily recall everything Iíve learned in my classes over the years, I can recall life lessons and the memories with my friends that have made my time at Wooster worthwhile. Probably the most important thing I have learned at Wooster is who I am as a person. I know, cheesy and lame, but true. For the most part, I am very socially conservative ó talk about being in the minority at Wooster. Iím okay with it though; Iíve learned to not compromise my values and beliefs just to fit in with the people at this school. Sometimes I feel like people just say theyíre liberal to say theyíre liberal.
Learning about myself has been pretty cool, especially looking at how Iíve grown over the past four years. Much of my time at Wooster has been spent adjusting to a new environment each year. As a first-year, I made friends with a huge group of juniors and a few sophomores. These were my people ó we hung out every day without fail. As a sophomore, I lost nearly all of my friends at the end of the year. I went abroad during the fall semester of my junior year and when I came back in the spring, it was awkward. I felt like I barely knew anyone on campus anymore. Again, I hung out with practically all seniors and again, lost almost all of my friends at the end of junior year. Then this year, as a senior, Iíve had to branch out into a new group of friends yet again.
Overall, I guess getting to know people in all different groups over campus has suited me well, but at the same time I always thought it was kind of weird that I seemed to be one of the few people who has never had a solid, core group of friends my entire four years here. Itís been an interesting ride, though. If thereís anything I can say to underclassmen it is to make Wooster whatever you want it to mean to you. Do what you want to do and make no apologies for it. Have a good time and make the best with what you have no matter what ó you only have four years and they go by much faster than you think.