I have kinda mixed feelings about graduating. 

Thinking ahead, I’m pretty pumped to not have to deal with school anymore.

I think ahead to next fall and it’s mind-boggling to think that I won’t have to go to classes. I can just focus on my personal life and making money and not having to do so much damn homework.

On the other hand, I don’t really feel like I got much of a college experience. 

I could be cliche and say that it feels like just yesterday I was still in high school, but I won’t bore you with that. 

But think about it, as a 2020 high school grad, a quarter of my college experience was taking classes from my room, and for the next 25% I was wearing a mask through my classes.

I know what you’re thinking: ‘COVID, COVID, COVID, we get it.’ But it goes beyond COVID for me.

Because I commuted nearly an hour from Queensbury, New York, I wasn’t on campus much outside of class. I didn’t get to meet people or go to parties or go to sporting events. Hell I’ve never even been to Third Place. 

Then I walk from my car to Leavenworth and I pass a dozen people laughing together, talking about how crazy the weekend was, and having a good time and I think to myself: ‘man, I’m kinda missing out.’

And for most of my time at Castleton I didn’t really care, but eventually my FOMO took over.

I don’t even care about drinking (although it is fun). I just wish I got to be a part of campus. 

It’s hard for me to feel like a Castleton student when I was barely there.

If it weren’t for The Spartan, I wouldn’t have even made any friends on campus. 

I seriously owe everything to The Spartan. My best college memories were made on Sunday mornings when we designed the paper, Wednesday afternoons when we had meetings, and obviously that NYC trip. 

I’m so grateful and blessed to have made the friends I made in my time with The Spartan. Without them, college wouldn’t have been much more than classes, homework, and dumping my bank account at the gas pump. 

But I’d be more than willing to burn through a full tank to spend a day with Stone, Gonzo, Pearl, Maddie, Cami, and Joe one more time. And I can’t forget Marty, Lily, Wyatt and Sophia either.

Years from now, when people ask me about my college experience, I’m gonna be telling them about these people.

And no matter how annoying it was having to wait for Stone to walk into design on Sundays fully hungover and groggy, those were some of my favorite college memories to look back on.

Anyway, I guess that’s a wrap on my time at Castleton. Good luck to the Spartan staff next year – especially Stone, he’s gonna need it. 

And good luck to Dave when the sports pages don’t get started until noon.