This year, 2017 is nearly over and I want to reflect on this year because I did make some great changes. First, I quit debating. Second, I lost my debate camp job. Both of these phrases I never thought I would utter, but by the end of 2017 I am. Additionally I added a second major and renewed my desire to be a history major. While 2017 brought some terrible news, it also brought great fulfillment to my college career.

Throughout high school I loved debate; I wanted to be at tournaments nearly every weekend and travel around the United States. However, by my second semester at CSULB, my enthusiasm for debate waned. I felt that I did not have the support that I needed to continue debating and I felt worn down by the constant travel and even higher amount of prep work to keep up with college policy. Quitting college policy was a good decision because it significantly reduced my stress during the spring semester, but it did leave me feeling empty. Debate was such a huge part of my life in high school, that when I quit in college I did not know what to do with myself at first. Then I took another debate-related blow.

In the summer, I was hoping to work again at the debate camp I worked at last summer. I was disappointed when I learned that the camp did not get the number of students it needed to support a larger staff. So as a result, I lost my summer job. My summer ended up being very relaxed, and I felt myself growing even more distant from debate as a whole. I was no longer debating and I was not teaching at a debate camp. Debate went from an integral part of my life to a distant memory, but something new took its place—academics.

During the Spring 2017 Semester, I added a second major, Classics-Roman Civilization. My second major helped to take my mind off of debate and gave me something new to love. I have enjoyed taking Latin and Greek as foreign languages, and learning about Ancient Greek and Roman culture. I also took History 301, which was a core class for my history major. History 301 solidified my decision to be a history major because it was the class that explained what becoming a historian meant. It demonstrated the value of history and the job of the historian and made me more confident in the usefulness of my major.

2017 was a pretty good year for academics, but a bad one for debate. I will remember 2017 as the death of my debate career, and as the birth of my love for Ancient Greek and Roman civilization. I replaced one thing I loved with another. So there is life after debate.