Undergrad eduction – completed. This fact strikes me as pretty absolutely fantastic. Regardless of all that you’ll-miss-it-once-you’re-gone stuff, the fact that this is somewhat of a challenging time to be trying to start a career, and the ever closer repayment of student loans, graduation is an accomplishment, one that I am glad to claim.

The final final took place last night. Fitting, because it was for Communication Methods, the same class I did my research project for, the communication senior capstone. After somehow managing to study – thoughts of “I’ll never have to do this again” and “job hunt job hunt job hunt” and “it’s sunny outside” are a tad distracting – I did fine on the exam.

And Then.

Moment of Truth.

My prof hands me My Original Research Project*, completely graded and evaluated along with my presentation grade and eval. In the words of both the profs on my eval: Homerun! Really, I could not have asked for a better conclusion to my undergrad career. After putting so much time, thought, and effort into that project, the culmination of my communications major, it’s very rewarding to have it come together so nicely in the end.

Presentation Saturday went really well also. I was confident in my material and delivery, relieved with the overall outcome of the question and answer segment, and so wonderfully supported by friends and family who came to listen :o)
Hardest part: Waiting until 3 pm. (What a long time to be “on”.)
Highlights: Getting a laugh out of the audience, having ready answers for all the questions, visual aid working, wearing my brand new professional outfit, seeing everyone who came to support, and, again, that concluding sense of accomplishment. (Is it possible for accomplishing goals to be my love language?)

And now I’m done. With college. Wow. Obviously, that made this morning the perfect time for a walk in the woods. I head out to my car, all set to drive to some park away from the downtown-ness that surrounds me. Here’s what I find on my windshield: “Your car is parked the wrong way. Pay us money within five days. Happy Graduation – Love, GR Police.”

Okay, it didn’t say exactly that, but you get the idea. Yes, my car was parked the wrong way on the wrong side but, really, I’ve been parking that way all year. Should be okay on a little backroad, right? Apparently not.

So here it goes, onto the rest of my life. Now that the walk in the woods and parking ticket part is done, I think I’ll focus on cleaning my room.

*For those who so desire, I’d be more than happy to email you a copy of my research project :o) For those of you who don’t desire to ever hear about my project again but happen to be communication students at Aquinas, sorry, but you’re probably gonna get to watch my entire presentation in class. The profs tagged it for next year’s example :o)