I can’t believe it’s my senior year at Furman! Everyone says it, but time really flies in college – as they say, it’s the best four years of your life. I’m really excited to be back on campus for “the final year.”
Although I’ve taken advantage of some amazing opportunities over the past three years at Furman, this past summer (May through August) afforded me several of the most meaningful events of my college experience.
This summer I had the opportunity to travel abroad – I went on a Furman May Experience to New Zealand with 24 other Furman students and 2 professors, including my beloved advisor, Dr. Armstrong. The course I took was called “Communication, Culture, and Identity in New Zealand,” and in studying this, our group traveled to five cities across the North and South islands, beginning in Auckland and ending in Queenstown (Rotorua, Wellington, and Dunedin were sandwiched in between.) I am very much a homebody, so I was apprehensive going in to the trip (23 hours in flight just wasn’t super appealing to me, even on a plush 777) but traveling to New Zealand was the start to what I now affectionately refer to as “My Summer of Broadening.” From touring ancient glowworm caves to paragliding over snow-capped mountains (!!!) my experience in New Zealand was one I will never forget. Studying away allowed me to really expand as a person, going way outside my comfort zone and learning how to deviate from my usual routines.
I also interned in the Furman Admission Office this summer as the summer Social Media Intern. Aside from giving 4 tours a day in 95+ degree heat, I worked on several individual projects with Bartley Sides, one of the Senior Assistant Directors of Admission, and Kristen Anthony, the Furman Alumni Network Manager. I actually loved the experience of working in Admission so much that I had a change of heart career-wise and am now pursuing Higher Education as a career goal – up until this point, I was planning to go to graduate school for a Master’s of Journalism.
I was fortunate to go home for about 2 weeks this summer to see my family for one week in July and one in August, and took the GRE during the second trip. I’m so glad it’s out of the way, and am ready to nail down those grad school applications over the next few months (my goal is to have them all submitted by November 1 – let’s see if I make that deadline.) It took a lot of self-discipline to make myself come home from work every day and study for the GRE, but I’m really pleased to be free from the studying and ready to embark on other aspects of the admission process.
So here I am, at the outset of senior year, with a lot of personal and practical responsibility on my plate . . . managing my coursework, researching and applying to graduate schools (hello real world!), leading Panhellenic Council, balancing other extracurriculars and most importantly, investing in my amazing college friendships. I am waiting with great anticipation to see all that this year holds, and can’t wait to share it all with you!
