The Emotions of Graduation!!!

Today I graduated from the prestigious Elon University, located in the humble city of Elon, NC with a Bachelor of Arts in Human Services with a minor/concentration in Religious Studies! This has been one of the biggest days of my life!

Everyone has been asking me how I feel. Overall I must say that it is a very bittersweet moment for me! But I want to break this down starting with the sweet portion and moving to the bitter part last.

Sweet
Happy: I'm happy because there is joy in achieving something as gratifying and honorable as an undergraduate college education. Many do not have the opportunity to achieve a Bachelor's degree and especially those raised in my community/county. Overall I am happy to do something that some thought would never happen! To overall be a first-generation college student is also a blessing!

Victorious: I view my college career as a battle. I won't share the whole details right now but in 4 years I've had my share of ups and downs. Many things came in the way to try to make me give up on pursuing this education! In 2007 our family moved from our home since 1954 to an area we had never heard much of. It was very challenging because of the circumstances that forced us to move out of our home. Yet I feel victorious because if it was up to the devil, I would have never went to college in the first place. It is also victorious to graduate from the city you grew up in. To receive a degree represents crossing the finish line of a battle that was fought for years.

Bitter
Sadness: I feel sad because I will miss many of the friends that I formed relationships with in my 4 years of going to Elon. These relationships helped me grow as a human being in an environment made of a lot of bratty, arrogant and rich people. To be accepted by people who love you regardless of your socioeconomic background is a blessing! I had some friends that i made in their freshman year that I will miss and wish I was able to have much longer to develop the friendship. It's still possible that I will be able to develop friendship. There are some friends (all different classes) that I just met this year and now already we are saying goodbye. It's very sad.

Grief: I must admit that I believe that graduation from an undergraduate program in college officially ends childhood. Some argue that it ended after graduating high school. I don't think so unless they went straight to the job market and not to college. In college we had an opportunity to learn adult responsibility but still be able to be childish in some ways. In the real world being childish is a no no in order to make it! Therefore ending childhood means adult responsibilities. This is why I tell my young friends/mentees to value their childhood and not rush to being an adult because while being an adult is fun it also comes with a heavy price to pay. Last my grief is in part to going out in the real world and expected to have a job, making a living, etc. With this it seems like the overall theme in the real world is do whatever it takes to make a dollar, even if that includes stepping on other people to get there, which is something we must stop doing! Every man/woman is for themselves in the real world. We do not live in a society where people pay your bills. You have to pay your own bills and the means to getting there is not simple or easy but whether challenging and very stressful. In the real world it's all about productivity, especially dependent on the type of job you work.

So overall I am bittersweet but more joyous than anything else to accomplish this major task! Long live Elon, both the University and the town I grew up in!!