My grades were posted online today. With this one little thing, I am now officially done with my senior year of college! It is a bittersweet moment for sure. I have had four amazing years at Elmira College. No college experience is perfect, but I really did have a great time for the most part. I have met so many wonderful people, learned so much, and grown so much.
A little bit of numbers: In my time at Elmira College I took 52 classes; earned 158 credits; completed 2 majors; attempted 1 other major; spent approximately 600 days in classrooms learning; was taught by 21 professors; took 24 classes in the arts; took 14 education classes; spent time in the field as a teacher in 5 different capacities (freshman fieldwork, tutoring weekly in both literacy and STEM, first student teaching experience, and second student teaching experience); and spent 3 weeks studying abroad in Peru.
I started college as a Childhood Education major with a Spanish concentration. I quickly changed my concentration to Visual and Performing Arts. I hadn’t taken an art class since 7th grade, but after just one art course, I was hooked. It didn’t hurt that art came quite naturally to me. My junior year, I added a Visual Arts major, which is a fancy name for art education. However, just one semester later, I decided it would be too much to finish and I got rid of that major. Then, in my senior year, I just happened to look up the requirements for an Art major. Turns out I was only lacking a couple of classes that I could easily take the next semester. So I am graduating as a Childhood Education and Art double major.
My last week on campus was a good one. I spent time with my friends, did a bit of studying, got lunch with one of my amazing professors, and finished up the tiles I have been making for over a year in ceramics. My last full day on campus and in Elmira was on Thursday. It was pretty close to a perfect day. I worked on getting my stuff packed up in the morning, and then went out to lunch with a professor off-campus. The food was delicious, and my professor gave me the chair that I had decoupaged and painted for a research conference that we presented at (our topic was art in the curriculum). I then went to visit the students that I taught during student teaching this past fall. It was my first time visiting my kiddos since December, and it was great to see them again! On my drive there, I saw my dream hobby truck- a 1950s bright red truck! I then went shopping for about 4 hours. Instead of dinner, I went out to get ice cream from my favorite place with a couple of friends. After, I hung out with my three roommates that were still on campus (just missing one, who had already move out) and finished packing and such. It was the perfect note to end my time as a college student.
On Friday, I had a final in the morning. I then packed up my car with help from two of my roommates, said goodbye to them, and picked up my glazed and fired tiles from the ceramics studio. They were finished just in time! They were actually still pretty warm when I picked them up- I had to wear gloves while taking them out of the kiln! My trip home was definitely interesting. I have been having car troubles for about a month, so I was nervous I wouldn’t make it over the hills that are between the exit off the highway and my hometown 30 minutes away. I asked my dad to meet me in the town that I usually exit off the highway in case I broke down (there’s no cell service, so I didn’t want to get stranded). However, due to a completely unrelated problem, I broke down before even making it there. Thankfully, my dad was only about 15 minutes away and was able to come rescue me. We got the car one exit further and got a tow truck. We then moved all of my stuff from the car to his truck, and finally made it home about an hour and a half or more later than I originally expected.
I helped my dad finish installing new linoleum flooring in my bedroom on Saturday, and am still working on moving my stuff back into my room and unpacking. Of course, I’m going on an international trip later this week, so I’m also simultaneously packing for that. Fun stuff!
The Oke Den 