The Final Chapter

And so it begins. After just finishing an amazing semester in Washington D.C. I start another chapter of my college career—the final year. An end of a journey that has been fun, depressing, challenging and changing.

At the end of my high school career, I panicked about going off to college. Uneager to change location and worried about being away from my family, I was uninterested in looking at colleges. I had an untraditional high school experience, I transferred my junior year from public to private school. I never found a real belonging other than at home, and I didn’t know where to go.

I had talked New York, Massachusetts and other states out east, but I was not ready to leave my home state. I always had talked big adventures, but I was scared and nervous to take any leaps. So I ended up less than a half hour away at George Fox University.

It seemed promising at first. The sold it to me, “We have lots of events. Everyone is really nice. So many ways to get involved. So many things to do close by.” Not quite the way I would describe it, but that’s OK. It was perfect for the time being.

I learned a lot at Fox. I met some people who have inspired me, and we have had some priceless moments that I would never exchange for another experience. I was challenged academically and spiritually. But most importantly, I eventually grew the courage to venture out of Oregon alone.

A few weeks ago I returned from the most amazing semester in Washington D.C. It changed me. It opened my ways to another part of the country, to different people, and to new things. I met people with the same aspirations as me and everything that felt so scary became easy. And my goals that seemed impossible became real. I studied at the Washington Journalism Center. I did school, interned and explored.

City life became my dream. I felt at home, and I hope to return after this final stretch of my undergraduate career. It was completely different than anything I had known, but it was comfortable.

I also got to experience life as a reporter, and grew from that experience. I learned more about the journalism field than ever. Fox just started their program at the beginning of my sophomore year. D.C. gave me the opportunity to practice and test to see if journalism is what I really want to pursue. Despite the challenges and frustrations I faced, there is nothing I want more than to be a journalist.

After all the great things I experienced in D.C., coming back to Newberg didn’t have much appeal. I missed my family, friends and the Pacific Northwest, but my heart had begun to move on. I grew up, and was figuring things out I didn’t even know I had questions to.

I did leave D.C. half-heartbroken and part relieved to have survived my time there. Inspired from my experience, I have returned to continue to grow from what I learned. Now I just have one summer, one year of undergraduate college, and one more last hooray in the small rural town of Newberg, Oregon.

I have my tiny vintage apartment. I have a summer job doing administrative work at a campus office and an internship with the Newberg Graphic. This is the ending of one chapter and a beginning of another…