A learning experience

“Life is a learning experience, only if you learn.” ~Yogi Berra

Tonight, I had the opportunity to speak at my alma mater, the University of the Cumberlands, during an end of the year banquet for the communications department.

While tonight's event was to honor the students in the department, but it also included a surprise recognition of two beloved professors who had retired during the COVID years. They didn't get the much-deserved celebration of their many years service to the college or the department.

I was asked to speak as one of the professors was a mentor to me, a woman I was inspired by and still respect so much as a person, a professor, and a writer.

There's some nostalgia to be had when you return to a place you once knew so well. Other alumni and I wandered the halls of the Grace Crum Rollins building remembering what once was. We talked about the changes from our time.

Gone was WCCR, the radio station where we'd spent hours perfecting our shows and acting as our own deejays. It's been replaced with a podcast studio.

There's a computer lab now, which had been long overdue, but it replaced the TV studio. There was still an editing area and recording spaces for students, but the arrangement was different.

There were some things that remained the same with slight changes -- the classrooms still looked the same but with upgraded tech.

My old home away from home (the newspaper office) was still there, although the computers had an upgrade. No more Lazarus, for any of my fellow The Patriot alum.

The conference room was still there and used for that purpose -- sparking memories of the day The Beatles Rock Band released and my professors spend their time between classes playing. (They really were/are the coolest professors!)

Offices remain, but the names on the doors are different.

As a former classmate said, "It's all changed, and yet all stayed the same."

And that's how life goes, isn't it?

As I drove home, I considered that the building wasn't the only thing that's changed. I've changed too. I wonder if people remember the me that was.

I certainly do. Sometimes I forget that version no longer exists.

My graduation day with a professor/mentor!

The me that was a student would not have been able to stand and speak tonight. While I still fumbled, I wasn't as polished as I'd liked, and my voice wavered a little, I was able to do it. 

College me would have burst into a fit of giggles. Or would have made an excuse to not be able to attend. Or simply refused.

I think back to my college experience and I'm not sure that girl would recognize the me that exists today. I hope she'd think I'm a pretty cool person. 

Even with all the extra gray hairs. Although she might be disappointed I don't travel as much any more. Or that I stopped with the fun dyes.

A lot of the lessons I learned in college shaped the person I became. I don't just mean within the classroom, either, although those were important too.

My professors and other people challenged my worldviews in the best way. They challenged my views of myself, too, helping clear out some of those unhealthy concepts. 

They pushed and prodded just enough to make me try new things.

I learned to swing dance in college. Not a lot of people know that about me now, as I haven't in years. Past me would be sad that I don't still do that, because I loved it.

With one of my dear college friends at her wedding.

I had to relearn how to make new friends and be a friend. I'm still working on that, but I'm so thankful for the friends I made and the friendships I've maintained from my UC days.

College was when I started the journey to really find my voice. I had always realized I was better with the written word, but it was college that helped me hone that skill. I am a writer. I sometimes let my writing lapse more than I should, but in my heart I know I am a writer.

It's taken me a while to be able to say (write) that with such certainty.

It was also in college that I began to learn that one can maintain their roots, but they don't have to be held to notions that no longer fit. That lesson came from one of my mentors, a person being honored tonight.

There can be a balance of the past and the future. You can maintain your history while challenging the unhealthy, the ugly, and the parts that should be left in the past and not carried to future generations.

It was also about 12 years ago last week that I received confirmation I had completed my master's degree requirements. At the time, I had no idea why exactly I felt led to get that masters, just that I did. I am so grateful I pursued it, even if I felt like it was by the skin of my teeth.

During a study abroad in Grad School
to Cyprus. I'm making cheese!

If college was a time to start finding my voice, grad school was a time to start finding myself. It was honestly a hard time for me, a lonely time, but a time in which I learned more about who I was and who I wanted to be.

It was a time I learned who I didn't want to be.

I fought for that degree, not just academically, but mentally. It was time when I felt divided and I doubted if I was doing the right thing so many times. It would have been easier to quit and come home. There was a lot of pressure in life at the time. 

But I knew there was a reason I was there, there was a reason I was working for those two letters. (M.S.)

And here I am. That degree came in handy when the dream job ended and bills came knocking. It's come in handy since, offering me the chance to teach online classes. It helps take a little stress off to have a class lined up. Because there's always more month than money, if we're being honest.

Teaching -- something else that young college girl would have never dreamed or expected. Me, a teacher? Nah. That's something other people in my family do. I don't have the patience or knowledge for that.

Or maybe I do? Another one of those things I've figured out over the years.

Tonight I got to meet one of my students in person. It wasn't a magical introduction, I don't think I've changed her life in any grand way. She just recognized my photo and said hi. But it was exciting. I rarely get a chance to see students in person! She was even nice enough to say she enjoyed the class.

And now, with Miss Darby, one of my clients!

Life is a wild ride. We have no idea the paths it'll take and we have to find our ways and find ourselves along the journey.

And, sometimes, if we look hard enough, we can find our passions too. Sometimes they're where we least expect.

The secret, I think, is to figure out what those are and hold on tight as we pursue them. But never be so set in our ways that we aren't willing to learn more about ourselves or try new experiences.

After all, life is a learning experience.

So make it a good one.