As I walk around campus leaving from my last class of my undergraduate education, I can't help but feel extremely sentimental and grateful for my time here at the University of Minnesota (UMN). This school is where I have found who I am, what career I should pursue, and who some of my best friends are. Reflecting on that, I just wanted to say thank you to the school that has made my college experience the best that I could ever hope for.

I transferred here from a smaller school the second semester of my sophomore year. I was extremely nervous to come here for multiple reasons. The first was that at my other school with significantly less people, my student adviser never really took the time to know me. Every time I went into his office, he would ask me to remind him what I wanted to do as a career and continue to ask me questions that we went over every time I met with him. I did not feel confident in what he was telling me.

I thought coming to a bigger school would make this situation worse. How could my academic adviser, who has a ton of more students, know me on even a somewhat personal level. However, I was paired with the best adviser I could have ever asked for! After just one meeting with her, she knew me and remembered aspects of our conversation. I saw her once on the street after our first meeting, and she recognized me and asked me about things I thought she would have forgotten that we talked about. She gave me a ton of confidence and was such a help throughout my time here. Faustina, thank you!

Another thing I was worried about was having people think I was weird for walking alone on campus. At small schools, if you are ever alone, people stare at you weird. The greatest thing about a big school is that people are alone all the time on campus. It is completely normal and completely accepted for someone to be eating or studying alone.

The thing that I have loved the most is the overall sense of community throughout the campus. To me, this was especially evident at sporting events. It was great to be in a huge group of people who were all cheering for the same team and same school (and let’s be honest, Goldy is the best mascot ever!). On the first warm day of the semester, everyone is out on the lawn playing frisbee or soccer or laying out on the grass. It creates such a welcoming environment.

I could go on and on about everything that I love about UMN. I am honored to be graduating from such a great school and to call myself a Gopher. Thankfully, I will be attending graduate school here and get the opportunity to hang around just a little longer.