We graduate today!

This is it. We finally made it here. We are the people who put in the extra effort and time to get here today. It is August 16, the last day of this bridge program. As happy as I am to finally be done with this and get the last week of my summer back, I am happy that this happened. It was a huge wakeup call that everyone needed. I cannot speak for everyone in the bridge program, but I know why I was in here and it was not taking school seriously. Getting awful grades is one thing, but to continue to get them and just not care is dumb. I have learned many things besides school skills, such as place and time really has an effect on what goes on in our lives. I also learned more about myself and why I have the models that I do. Actually, all the papers we had to write had huge values and lessons in it.

            The paper I found most beneficial was the one about risk, which ended up being my five page paper. I had always known what risk was, but never thought about how it drives us. We all have something in us that we are supposed to share with the world; we just need to overcome fear of rejection and looking stupid. We need to learn to just not care about what people think and just do what we think is best. That is what my final project is based on. I had written a song awhile before I had the band I am in now, but was never really sure about it. I doubt myself a lot with my guitar playing, and I just didn’t know if it was any good or not. One day I decided to just do it and see what would happen, not caring if I looked dumb to my new band or not. They ended up loving it, and it became one of the first songs we recorded.

            As much fun as sleeping in and staying up all night is, coming to Chicago these last four weeks was actually kind of fun. Sure, taking the train every day sucks, but I learned a lot in here. Not so much math or science, but about being a better writer and really buckling down with all the work that came with it. I also want to thank everyone in the bridge program, from the students to the teachers to the lectures. You all made this program fun and interesting, and overall just a good time.