Sticking it out: Why staying at USD is worth it

Had I gotten my way a few months into my freshman year, I wouldn’t be writing this column right now.

I wouldn’t be dreading final papers and projects, I wouldn’t be frustrated with classes I did and didn’t take, and I certainly wouldn’t be taking an extra semester to finish my degree.

Had I gotten my way, I’d be far from Vermillion, probably majoring in something else entirely. Maybe I’d be happier. Maybe not.

I’ve written this sort of column before, and each time I admit that college has not been my favorite season of life.

It was a difficult transition from home, and life has upset just about every plan I made for what I wanted from my college career. A few months into my freshman year, all I wanted was to go home and not come back. Even now as a senior, sometimes I’m tired enough and disillusioned enough to wish I had.

But, if I’d gotten my way four years ago, I wouldn’t have spent last night at the top of Spirit Mound watching a distant lightning storm with a group of friends I met because I got involved with The Volante my sophomore year.

I wouldn’t have just been theorizing about the Mad Men finale with my best friend and roommate—who, incidentally, lived just a couple doors down from me freshman year and sat next to me in speech class.

I wouldn’t have spent last summer interning with South Dakota Public Radio and traveling across the state to gather interviews for my infinitely overwhelming thesis project.

I wouldn’t have proven to myself that it is possible to start off knowing no one, and end up with a new-fashioned sort of family at my home away from home.

I know people who took college by storm, who relished their freshman year and accomplished everything they set out to d

o. I hope you follow their lead. But if, like me, you find yourself feeling tired, unsure, or discouraged, take this piece of encouragement: you’ll be surprised how great things can be if you stick through the rough patches long enough to see it.