Dear Champlain College prospects,

I hope you choose to come here.

I hope you choose to deal with our frozen wasteland and vengeful wind, to push through the rough winters and the freezing treks across campus for food, to move from however far away you are to live in our Victorian housing. I hope you choose to call Champlain home.

Why? Because after being here, I can't imagine having gone anywhere else.

Champlain wasn't my only choice. It wasn't the only college I was looking at back in 2013 when the fact that I needed to focus on my future became very real. It was, however, the only one I officially applied to. And I'll admit, that was a risk on my end. But even then, even four years ago when I was staring at that postcard in my hand and looking at the college website, there wasn't anywhere else I wanted to be. Champlain was calling me, and I decided to listen.

Getting the acceptance package from Champlain — after having to search for it because my dad hid it under a pillow — was one of the best feelings I've ever had. I'd been accepted to the place that my heart was dying to go to, even though my brain was protesting with fears of not making friends, of being six hours from my home, of starting completely over.

But that's the beauty of Champlain: your experience here is exactly what you make it.

A lot of colleges flaunt that idea and not all of them follow through. When you decide to come to Champlain, you're making a decision to grab your future by the reigns and take it where you want to go. The courses are so diverse, so fascinating that you get to choose the path you're on (with the help of an advisor).

They don't teach plain old history or literature. Champlain's Core curriculum incorporates concepts of the world, teaches you about yourself and other cultures, without having to stare at a 500-page institutional textbook to do it. I've learned about religion, about Chinese culture, about how Bilbo Baggins was a hero. (That's right, in place of your basic courses, I got to take one devoted to J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit.")

I've met some of my best friends here, one of whom I miss dearly because she's studying abroad in Argentina, and another because she's abroad in Ireland. I met my fiance here and discovered that our lives were more connected than I could have ever imagined. I've learned skills and had jobs that make me confident that I'll be okay after graduation. Champlain has set me up to succeed.

And now, whenever I think back to when I officially made the decision to move six hours away (despite my parents not wanting me to go that far), I remember my heart telling me that it was what I needed to do. Champlain was where I needed to be. And I've never once questioned whether or not I made the wrong decision.

I hope that Champlain is that college for you. And if it isn't, I hope you have a college calling you that you can go to, and I hope that college makes your heart soar the way Champlain's made mine.

Sincerely,

A junior who has suddenly realized how much she'll miss her college when she graduates in a year.