100 Days Till Graduation

I can’t believe three weeks of second semester have passed already. I wish I could pump the brakes. But lots of exciting stuff is happening! Blizzard Nemo came through and dumped 28 inches of snow on our lovely campus. On Friday the 8th– the night that the seniors were supposed to be dancing away at 100 Days Ball, we were locked inside while heaps of snow locked us in. It was a great night for baking, drinking wine, watching chick flicks, and talking for hours. But we were all a little depressed that our beloved ball (notorious for quite the fun time…) got postponed. But it got moved to this Friday, the 15th, and we’re super pumped. Any opportunity to get dressed up and be with all my friends is a perfect night for me. Can’t wait.

I’m taking Modern Dance, Cancer Biology, a Joseph Conrad & Graham Greene seminar, and continuing to write my thesis this semester. My classes have been really awesome so far. I’m particularly pleasantly surprised by my cancer bio class. I’ve been putting off my natural science requirement for quite some time (as you can tell) because it is absolutely not my forte. But Prof. Bellin’s class has been really interesting and easier to understand than I thought. My biology pre-med roommate is definitely proud 🙂 Modern Dance has also been so much fun. I went into just wanting to try something different and fun for my final semester at Holy Cross– not to mention, I’ve always regretted quitting my jazz class after only two weeks in the 7th grade. The class has been such a delight– de-stressing and fascinating. And simply put, I just really enjoy dancing. Not just at bars in Worcester with my senior class, I’ve now discovered, but choreographed and in an academic setting. Having an eclectic class selection makes for a really vibrant final semester. And, as always, my thesis is providing me with challenging and incredibly rewarding work that I’m starting to see come together holistically with my advisor, Prof. Cording.

Next weekend, I’ll be going on Manresa for my final retreat at Holy Cross and I’m feeling bittersweet about it. I can’t believe it’ll be my last one but I can’t wait to be at Toah Nipi for a full weekend again– to reflect on myself, my spirituality, and my Holy Cross experience as it, unfortunately, starts to come to a close. My two good friends, Lauren Spurr and Liz Mahoney, are leaders and I can’t wait to see them in their element. 🙂 The weekend after will mark the beginning of Spring Break… unbelievable how fast time flies. I’ll be going to Punta Cana with over 100 kids from the Class of 2013 and I’m so looking forward to some R&R and sun. And more class bonding, of course.

Today marks exactly 100 days till I graduate. As I reflect upon this day–which is terrifying but so exciting–I want to make sure I keep these things in mind this semester: to remain genuine and loyal to my friends; to keep up my work ethic in the academic environment that has fostered me into the best student I can be; to continually take risks and put myself outside of my comfort zone to challenge myself; to keep my priorities in order and balanced; and lastly, to be conscious of every last second I have on this incredible campus.

I end this post with a piece of exciting news that touches upon my life after Holy Cross– about a month ago, I officially accepted an offer to teach secondary special education in Newark, NJ through Teach for America. Words cannot describe how lucky and excited I am to embark on this journey. I can’t wait to take on the challenge of educational inequity in our country and try to implement real change. While I will struggle daily, I can’t wait to connect with my students and make a real impact on social justice in this country before I begin a career– a career, which may in fact, including teaching. The best part: I get to go through this journey with my roommate, Marjorie, who also got placed in Newark. We’ve already begun planning our apartment and are so thrilled to start the next chapter of our lives. So although I remind myself daily to enjoy everything my HC experience has to offer before I graduate, I feel so blessed to be able to say that I have something so special I get to look forward to.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 14th, 2013 at 2:55 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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