When I started really getting serious about my higher education, I had no clue what I was getting into. By coming back to earn my degree, I’ve found that no matter what circumstances I found myself in as a student, there were always helpful, intelligent and insightful faculty and staff to get me to graduation.

It’s stressful being a student, and looking back, I’d say I have had at least one stress-fueled breakdown per semester. I would like to thank everyone who helped me through those times.

I think highly of The Lindquist College of Arts and Humanities faculty and staff. I think highly of the foreign language department. I even think highly of certain folks in the math department. Now, I never thought I would write that with such a degree of meaning infused in each syllable.

I like math now more than I ever have. In two months, I went from hating math desperately to enjoying certain aspects of math. I would say that the photography department is top-notch. There’s a lot I find suitable as farewell recollections, still I would highlight the quality of people at WSU.

I think that the resources that WSU has to offer its student body are only half of the equation. It has been my experience that the caliber of staff and faculty are the factors which establish WSU.

One major contributing aspect to my being able to finally earn my degree was being involved with clubs and organizations on campus, specifically The Signpost. It’s always been a comfortable space on campus with all differing types of peers. Had I not been involved with The Signpost, I would have felt like I was attending a “commuter school.”

I can say with confidence I don’t think I would have gained from my time in pursuing a higher education, like I have at WSU, had I not been involved with something on-campus.

One suggestion I would have to any new student at WSU is to get involved with on-campus clubs and organizations, anyway you can. Start finding out how the school can work for you. WSU is designed to specifically build student success through student experience. There are so many ways to get involved, and I wish I would have made more of my own time at the university.

At any rate, it is those people who I’ve taken classes from, peers, faculty and staff who have been supportive in keeping me going, especially during the most challenging times when carving a “C” onto the mountain of schoolwork seemed beyond doable.

It seems like everywhere one looks on campus, there are resources to help or to simply take advantage of during one’s time as a student. I am going to miss the wellspring of opportunities that WSU provides its students.

As far as I am concerned, it’s best to find ways to make being a student work for you and there are no shortage of opportunities to do that at WSU.