The Threshold: Bidding farewell to Brockport

This is our last week of classes for the semester and this is my last week of classes at Brockport forever. I can't believe the end is here already. It seems like just last week I was meeting the girls from my hallway in MacVicar Hall freshman year.

These years have all been crammed together and seem like one big blur, but it was the best blur of my life so far. When graduating from high school, I didn't think anything could compare to my fantastic senior year, but now nothing can compare to my college senior year.

Yes, my senior year was cut in half, so if I weren't graduating, it would only get better, I'm sure. So far, college is the climax of my life story, but I know I have to keep going to realize there is more.

Like any great book, the part of the story you're at may be the best so far, but you don't really know the best part until you've finished reading.

The most memorable times in Brockport are tied to friends or production days at The Stylus. Nights out with friends are almost as unpredictable as  making the newest issue of the newspaper.

One memory I will never forget came during my freshman year. One of my good friends and I lived down the hall from each other and we also had two classes together. I used to stop by her room on the way to class and we walked together.

One morning I knocked on her door, but she didn't wake up. After she missed our morning class, I went back to her room because we had a midterm exam in our next class.

I finally woke her up, but she was still a bit drunk from going out the night before. She got dressed quickly and we made it just in time for our exam, which I was sober for.

After the exams were graded the next week, we found out she did better than me. I will never forget that because it was one of the funniest moments in my first semester here.

For all of you reading, this only worked out because she studied like crazy beforehand, so don't try this next week for finals.

I would love to tell you all the stories about my crazy nights here in Brockport, but I'm still trying to piece some of them together and I only have 800 words to say farewell.

Perhaps some of the most memorable moments were things I wish weren't happening at the time. Despite how annoying and time-consuming some of the problems The Stylus faced during my time here, it has prepared me for a career in journalism when I graduate.

If you're an upperclassman, you may remember how Brockport Student Government (BSG) and The Stylus have butt heads since freshman year. From budget issues to fighting for the First Amendment, I've seen it all while working at The Stylus.

If anything has prepared me for covering politics in the real world, it's following and dealing with the political scandals at Brockport.

 As much as I hated it all while it was happening, I grin when looking back on it because it was interesting. The more crappy things that happen on campus, the better the stories we get to write.

Yes that sounds cynical, but I don't care. It made my life more interesting, even when it did stress me out to the maximum.

With all of the things going on at Penn State and Syracuse University, I wish I were at either of those schools because I would love to cover those stories.

The only thing I wish I could change about my time at Brockport was I wish I didn't take some things as seriously because the time went slower. Sometimes I wanted the semester to end so quickly I would count down the days until it was over.

I should have sat back and let time go by on its own because the end came too quickly.

Grades are important to me because I plan to attend law school after I graduate from Brockport, but I should have let myself have more fun earlier instead of doing homework all weekend, every weekend.

I realized from my friend who did better than me on the exam that we can still have fun and do well in class, if we try our hardest.

I love Brockport and I couldn't have made a better decision to attend this college. From meeting great friends to getting a great experience in journalism, I couldn't ask for more.

If you're not graduating in a week, remember to make the most of your time here and know college is only a chapter in our lives.  Don't rush through it because it will be over before you realize what happened.