“Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I adore the quote above because it is says everything about my life. I’d prefer to take the hard road whether it’s intentional or not. This speaks true of even my educational path. Yesterday was a big day for me. I graduated with honors from Kent State University! It’s been a long, hard road for me. I will explain.

After graduating high school I moved to Arlington, VA. I attended The Art institute of Washington and studied graphic design. Turns out I didn’t like that college very much and so I moved back home and transferred to Kent. Well, none of my credits transferred with me so I had to start all over again.

It was horrible and I was a bit depressed, but I realized I couldn’t just quit. I bogged myself down with classes starting from the summer I got to Kent until last Spring. I spent the last 3.5 years of my life with my head in the books. I took two full summers, 1 intercession semester, and 18+ credit hours during the majority of the 6 regular semester I was there. In addition to all of that I changed my major (to Advertising) and added two minors (Marketing and Psychology). Overall, I ended up taking 4.5 to 5 years worth of classes if someone were to take 15 credits every fall and spring semester.

Anyway, I completed all of my lecture classes last Spring and had been hoping to find an internship for the summer. Well that didn’t work out as I expected, so I searched and talked to a few people until I got where I am now. That was the last key to the puzzle. Now here I am. You can imagine that I’m a bit on the tired side and I apologize if I sound like I’m bragging but to tell you the truth I’m a bit proud of myself. It was hard doing all of that while still keeping my grades up as well as work on the side. I even got into the Kappa Tau Alpha honor’s society.

Although, I never wanted to walk across the stage I’m glad I did. The woman butchered my name, but other than that I didn’t fall or trip and I got some great photos. By the way, all the photos on today’s post were taken by a combination of Fly Guy Joey, myself, and some random guy that took the group shot with my phone below (all edited by me). I was surrounded by my friends and family who screamed my name like maniacs (*sigh*). But it was a great experience and I got a really nice dinner and new laptop out of it (Thanks Dad!). The coin is kind of pointless but that’s okay;  it’s pretty to look at I suppose. Anyway, Enjoy the photos from my special day!

Ciao,

*Author’s Note: And yes, I suppose grad school is in my future.