After dreaming about this day since I was 8 years old, attending two different universities in two different states with two different majors, I have finally done it.
I graduated with my Bachelor's Degree in Communication Disorders and Deaf Education from Utah State University!
I have already written previous blog posts about my acceptances to both BYU-Idaho and Utah State University, as well as my switch from Elementary Education to Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, but never have I completed something in my life that was so extremely difficult, but so wonderfully rewarding.
I am so thankful for my family, my friends, and for those who supported me through everything these past four years. I never realized how incredible a college education is, and how much more I feel like I can actually contribute to society, and make a difference with whatever job I have. I feel so much more confident in what I am doing, and am realizing that life is really just beginning. I'm at the threshold of a new start, and I am so excited to see what the next chapter in my life holds!
Graduation was such a great day! My grandparents drove down from Canada to come see the ceremony, and to see me walk, and that meant so much to me. My parents and brother came to see me, and also brought me sunflowers, which have a lot of meaning for me.
Two years ago, when I first started this major at USU, our professors came in to talk to our class, and told us that we were going to be weeded out--that this was not meant to be an easy major, and that if USU had a medical school, we would be in that. This was a pre-med degree, and one in the health sciences. My friend Hillary leaned over to me after they said they were going to be weeding us out, and said, "We aren't going to be weeded out. We're going to be sunflowers, towering over the rest of them. They can't get rid of us that easily." And since then, sunflowers have been my motivation to finish my college career, and have helped me get through the hard times when classes seemed impossible, and like I was crazy for going through such heavy credit loaded semesters.
It was worth it, and I am so glad I stuck through the hard times, because with them, they also brought incredible times!
Graduation was so much fun, and our Dean made the ceremony really great, and included us chanting and singing some of our last school songs together before we became USU Alumni. Walking across that stage was an incredible feeling, and I was so happy that my hard work had paid off after several years!
My family and I went to Maddox's for graduation dinner, and that was fun to go to, especially since I was also able to bring my boyfriend, Jacob, with us. It was a really great day, and although everyone was exhausted from moving and just being part of a long day, it was so much fun.
Thank you Utah State, for everything you've taught me, for the friends I have made along the way, and for the bright future you have given me. I am so excited, and so ready, to take on the world and what it has to offer.
Live. Love. Laugh. Grow.
