I’ve had way too much fun this semester.
From driving to Washington, D.C., with fellow editors — Joseph Dever, Leah Tate and Matthew Chinn — to be a part of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s Rally to Restore Sanity to spending time with groups and friends on campus, it’s been a great time to be in college.
But all good things come to an end, and I guess this is the best way to leave my college years behind — on a high note.
While the good times have been good, the class work and study time have been, well, daunting.
But nothing worth anything comes easily, and I’d do it all over again.
You see, it’s a privilege to go to college and have a high education that many can sometimes overlook.
Education has always been stressed by my family and innately important to me for many different reasons.
My grandmother, Ella Sullivan, succumbed to a heart attack in September.
She was my voice of reason and one of my best friends.
Growing up, she was allowed to attend school only until the eighth grade when she was told by her father she had had enough education.
She would always express to me about how much she was looking forward to high school, especially having her own locker and science books. She was always ending the conversation with, “Don’t take it for granted, Jess.”
My mother and aunt, brother and my own education were so important to her.
She always wanted us to have the opportunities that she was point-blank denied.
Instead of saying “Have a good day,” before I would walk to class in grade school, she reminded me to be brave and be a know-it-all, every day.
As heartbroken I was about her loss, I knew the best way I could commemorate such a remarkable woman was to carry-on during the semester and obtain the degree she so badly wanted herself.
The education I am taking from IU Southeast is expediential.
I am proudly walking away with a degree in journalism, which seems to be the only profession left that is hinged on integrity and the trust in justice and people.
Learning from the likes of James St. Clair, professor of journalism, and Ron Allman, associate professor of journalism, I feel ready for that real world everybody has been telling me about.
I feel honored to have been taught by these men and feel I am a better journalist and overall person for knowing them.
What I have learned at IU Southeast did not only come from the professors or whoever stood in front of the class. I owe a lot to my fellow editors of The Horizon.
The privilege to work with you is only overshadowed by the chance to know you all personally.
The force is strong in you all, and I can’t wait to hear about all of your successes because I know they will happen.
I know that classes can be difficult.
Chemistry is hard, history can be boring and physics, come on, when will I really use that in the real world except for exciting games of Trivial Pursuit?
Joking aside, I’d do them all over because I know how lucky I have been for the opportunity.
The old adage of “Stay in school,” isn’t just a saying.
The advice I can give is the same thing my grandmother told me when I was just walking to class to learn my ABC’s.
Be fearless, know-it-all’s. Trust me, it’s worth it.
—30—
By JESSICA MEYER
Sports Editor
jessmeyeumail.iu.edu
