Farewell, ESU

By Kate Space
SC Staff Writer

With the Spring semester in its final weeks, many ESU seniors are getting ready to bring their academic careers to a close and celebrate their accomplishments this May. While this is often a time of stress, with term papers and finals right around the corner, it is also a time of reflection as seniors look back at the time they have spent at ESU. For many, it seems as if the past four years were a blur; not too long ago, they were freshmen just starting out at ESU. Many students are eager to complete their undergraduate education and move on to the next chapter of their lives, while others are reluctant to leave the comfort and familiarity of ESU.
“I feel like I’m leaving so much behind,” explained Steven Martinez, a Business major graduating next month. “I started dancing my sophomore year and was on the University Dance Company and the Dance Team. I performed in two of ESU’s drag shows and opened up for one of AASA’s fashion shows. I’m probably not going to have the opportunity to dance like that again after I graduate. I’m going to miss it a lot.”
Jessica Davis, an Education major also graduating in May, reflected on her time spent at ESU and the new chapter of life that awaits her after graduation. “I’m excited and nervous. Excited because I’ve worked my butt off and it’ll be nice to move on to the next stage of my life. College is amazing but I know there’s life beyond ESU. With that being said, the job market is not looking too great for recent grads, so the life beyond ESU is probably going to be a struggle, but I’m confident in my abilities and confident in everything I’ve learned from ESU.”
As a senior also graduating this May, I am also overwhelmed with the bittersweet feelings that come along with ending my undergraduate career. For many of us, ESU has been our home away from home for the past four years. I feel like I am leaving this university quite different from the person I was when I arrived; I came here as a naïve freshman and am leaving with a stronger sense of maturity and understanding of myself. There are so many things that I am going to miss—the friends, the football games, the parties, just the overall college experience. As seniors, we have waited for this moment for what seems like forever, counting down the years, months, weeks, and days until we can proudly hold our degrees in our hands and know we made it through. But now that it’s here, we all wish we had a little bit more time to say goodbye to it all. And so I end with a bittersweet farewell to the graduating class of 2012—we can only go up from here. Thanks for the memories, ESU.