Well, hello, there. I'm just sitting here feeling even more successful than I did on Wednesday. The reason: I defended my honors thesis this afternoon.
Really? It's done? What once sounded like such an intimidating concept?
But I put my work into the project, and it paid off. While they say most students have to do some final revisions after the defense before turning it in, I walked away without having to do any--my professors told me that was the first time they had ever said that to anyone. Excuse me while I go and gloat.
Really? That was me? I was the one to not need to do revisions?*
What a wondrous concept. Following this discovery came dinner at House of Tricks (Tempe people, go eat there if you've never been) (there may have been a glass of champagne involved) and a walk by Tempe Town Lake in the cool and calm evening air.
Goodness, how do I ever end up achieving anything? You really can do anything if you try to, can't you? Can it be so true that possibilities are limitless?
*Of course, I was the first person for these three professors--not the first person ever.
Showing posts with label ASU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ASU. Show all posts
Friday, March 22, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
"With Honors"
Yesterday I went to pick up my honors cords for graduation and let me tell you, it is such a different experience getting honors cords for college than for being in the top 10% of your high school class. I went to a smallish sort of high school, where the fact that I was in the top 10% didn't seem to necessarily mean much. But when you go to pick up honors cords for the highest (out of three) academic recognition (based on GPA), that's something.
At ASU, honors cords are maroon, gold, or both. I knew which I was getting, but it was still an unbeatable moment when the person at the office handed me my summa cum laude cords (yes, this is based on my GPA as of last semester, so it's subject to change on my diploma depending on the grades I get this semester--but I don't think I'm doing any worse than usual this semester). Instead of putting them away immediately, I had to hold them for a minute while I walked out of the building, stroking the bright yellow and red. Then I started walking around campus thinking, I've conquered!
I walked down Palm Walk beaming, looking at all the familiar sights from the last four years. I was seventeen when I first started walking this campus; now, years later, it seems that not so little has changed until I take the time to think about what I have learned and what I have achieved since then. I am still young and I still know nothing, but I have done a bit more and realized a bit more than I had back then.
High school graduation is just something you do (that is, it was for me). But college graduation (I'm only going to the honors college convocation, by the way) is different. It means success and it means the end of an era. I'm not going to graduate school: this is it. So I've tried to make the most of these four years and judging by those honors cords, I think I've succeeded.
(Oh, and on Friday I defend my honors thesis--should I be nervous or excited?)
At ASU, honors cords are maroon, gold, or both. I knew which I was getting, but it was still an unbeatable moment when the person at the office handed me my summa cum laude cords (yes, this is based on my GPA as of last semester, so it's subject to change on my diploma depending on the grades I get this semester--but I don't think I'm doing any worse than usual this semester). Instead of putting them away immediately, I had to hold them for a minute while I walked out of the building, stroking the bright yellow and red. Then I started walking around campus thinking, I've conquered!
I walked down Palm Walk beaming, looking at all the familiar sights from the last four years. I was seventeen when I first started walking this campus; now, years later, it seems that not so little has changed until I take the time to think about what I have learned and what I have achieved since then. I am still young and I still know nothing, but I have done a bit more and realized a bit more than I had back then.
High school graduation is just something you do (that is, it was for me). But college graduation (I'm only going to the honors college convocation, by the way) is different. It means success and it means the end of an era. I'm not going to graduate school: this is it. So I've tried to make the most of these four years and judging by those honors cords, I think I've succeeded.
(Oh, and on Friday I defend my honors thesis--should I be nervous or excited?)
Saturday, January 12, 2013
On the Looming Horizon
It's so strange.
Earlier this week, I met with both my regular advisor in the English department and my honors college advisor to make sure I had all the classes I'll need to graduate this spring. And I do . . . And I find that my GPA, to my surprise, is rather high--especially for someone who has never professed to have any interest in GPAs. So that leaves me with four months, maybe less than four months, until I graduate not just from college but also from Barrett, the honors college.
That is so weird.
In this delirious blog of mine, usually I tend not to give much in the way of personal details. But at this moment, I will give my age as twenty-one. Such an age makes my upcoming graduation even stranger: I'm just a couple years older than what some people are when they graduate high school.
And yet here I am, sitting and looking at this looming horizon. But is it really a single moment, an epic event that will change everything? Four, three, even two years ago, when I told people I still wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to "do," that was okay. But now, "they" start wanting you to have an answer. And I may have one, as complicated and delirious an answer as I give to anything. But that isn't always the answer I "can" give: I realize the youngness of this day in my life. I realize that graduating college, while something to be proud of, is only one moment. Anything can follow it. And any number of things can follow it. There is not one single word that can encapsulate what the rest of my life after this moment will be, especially since I do not know yet everything that will happen in and affect my life.
So for now I glance wide-eyed toward May. May the month of potential change, but also May the same month that has come across my life every year these two decades or so I have lived. May it be a month of gladness and courage, as well as one of accomplishment.
Earlier this week, I met with both my regular advisor in the English department and my honors college advisor to make sure I had all the classes I'll need to graduate this spring. And I do . . . And I find that my GPA, to my surprise, is rather high--especially for someone who has never professed to have any interest in GPAs. So that leaves me with four months, maybe less than four months, until I graduate not just from college but also from Barrett, the honors college.
That is so weird.
In this delirious blog of mine, usually I tend not to give much in the way of personal details. But at this moment, I will give my age as twenty-one. Such an age makes my upcoming graduation even stranger: I'm just a couple years older than what some people are when they graduate high school.
And yet here I am, sitting and looking at this looming horizon. But is it really a single moment, an epic event that will change everything? Four, three, even two years ago, when I told people I still wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to "do," that was okay. But now, "they" start wanting you to have an answer. And I may have one, as complicated and delirious an answer as I give to anything. But that isn't always the answer I "can" give: I realize the youngness of this day in my life. I realize that graduating college, while something to be proud of, is only one moment. Anything can follow it. And any number of things can follow it. There is not one single word that can encapsulate what the rest of my life after this moment will be, especially since I do not know yet everything that will happen in and affect my life.
So for now I glance wide-eyed toward May. May the month of potential change, but also May the same month that has come across my life every year these two decades or so I have lived. May it be a month of gladness and courage, as well as one of accomplishment.
Tempe Town Lake (right by ASU)
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
I Have School Spirit?
I don't know how other schools work, but here at ASU, we have a "tradition" of whitewashing the A (up on a little slope, like the letters for cities are), before classes start up; it gets painted yellow again after the first home game. I'm not usually involved in things like this, but somehow I found myself there today around 4:15. AKA the middle of the afternoon.
What was the high today? Low, actually -- it's been around 110 lately; I don't think it rose that much today. But there was an intense thunderstorm last night, so there was lingering humidity. And 103, 110, what's the difference when you find yourself climbing a desert hill under the afternoon sun? But, you know, I wasn't really hot; I was more thirsty since I somehow decided to leave my water bottle in the car. But I had just drank plenty before that, so neither was that such an issue. Rather, it was a nice time.
I know I'm strange, but the plants up there were pretty: stick shrubs and cactuses. Plenty of fun rocks, too. Whitewashing the A didn't take up much of our time; it was more a matter of getting up to the top where we wanted to be, then taking the right pictures with all the right cameras. And then getting down again. (I outsmarted everyone by taking the best path while they toiled in the rocky area, but that doesn't surprise you, does it?)
The point of my little story? There is fun to be found in life. Even when you're not trying to find it, it'll slow down for you; the thing is to be ready when you have the chance.
What was the high today? Low, actually -- it's been around 110 lately; I don't think it rose that much today. But there was an intense thunderstorm last night, so there was lingering humidity. And 103, 110, what's the difference when you find yourself climbing a desert hill under the afternoon sun? But, you know, I wasn't really hot; I was more thirsty since I somehow decided to leave my water bottle in the car. But I had just drank plenty before that, so neither was that such an issue. Rather, it was a nice time.
I know I'm strange, but the plants up there were pretty: stick shrubs and cactuses. Plenty of fun rocks, too. Whitewashing the A didn't take up much of our time; it was more a matter of getting up to the top where we wanted to be, then taking the right pictures with all the right cameras. And then getting down again. (I outsmarted everyone by taking the best path while they toiled in the rocky area, but that doesn't surprise you, does it?)
The point of my little story? There is fun to be found in life. Even when you're not trying to find it, it'll slow down for you; the thing is to be ready when you have the chance.
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