Let’s Graduate So I Can Learn Again

Photo credit: Otterbein College

Do not get me wrong, my time at Otterbein College has been amazing (see this older post). I had wonderful personal experiences, figured out who I was, made terrific friends and set goals for the future. I had great academic experiences, discovered a love for world literature and learned to consider my life on paper through the personal essay. I had pre-professional opportunities that changed my life, from internships to being a leader in Otterbein’s Public Relations Student Society of America chapter and forming relationships with my mentors.

But I have piles of books scattered around my room that I have been dying to read and have not yet had the chance to because frankly, I have been reading the same crappy public relationships text books over and over again that all say the same thing. None of which have addressed new media, by the way.

I have written papers I have completely made up out of thin air to meet deadlines. I have worked to get the best grade possible and not to learn the most about what interest me. I learned to write what I know professors want to read rather than what I truly believe. There were life lessons in these moments, but let’s face it…there was not a whole lot of “learning” happening in those moments and I am not particularly proud of them.

Newton D. Baker, a former Mayor of Cleveland, said, “The man who graduates today and stops learning tomorrow is uneducated the day after.” I believe the education process is not a four year journey with a start and end date, but a process of continuing to build a base of knowledge.

I cannot wait to graduate so I learn again. I want to read more books that interest me and write more blog posts. I want to live an academic life after I graduate and forever more. So let’s graduate already, I’m ready to learn.