Sewanee: One Year Later

Picture by Emily Bailey, C'14

I'll apologise in advance for the way this post might seem that it's all over the place! The only way to describe it is to say that Sewanee is so much for me that it's hard to collect my thoughts and put them on paper (...on screen?). 

Today is exactly one year and a few days since I graduated from this beautiful place. It's so hard to believe that I've been out in the 'real world' for so long! The time I spent at Sewanee may have been less than a fifth of my life (....okay, so maybe that's still quite a long time), but it definitely changed me, almost completely, and has given me a wide variety of Sewanee-tinged of lenses with which I now view the world and everything in it. 

Sewanee people will know what I'm talking about when I refer to "that EQB feeling". The magic of the place that is Sewanee has ensured that that feeling of connectedness, love and support is still strong, long after we have left the gates. Sewanee has given us a family and a home. 

After a few months, words and details do start to fade. I may not be able to recall in perfect detail anymore that one conversation I had with that one person at that one place that one night, but that doesn't mean that the conversation wasn't had. Every experience I had at Sewanee, every person I met there, every mistake I made and every challenge I overcame there has helped shape me into the person that I am today, and continues to do so even though I'm so far from the mountain. 

I don't know if luck was in my favour when I got into Sewanee, or if I managed to "get things right", but (the majority of) the people I met there were amazing and inspiring, and among these were those I'm blessed to call my best friends. I know I've said this before, but I've heard that a person is lucky if they even have one real friend they can count on. This amazes me, because I left Sewanee with a treasure trove, and the proof of this lies in the strength of our bonds after so much time since we were all last together and the many miles now between us. I'm not just talking of the almost-stereotypical, same-sex friendships with people of the same age group and same background, but friendships between people from all different walks of life. 

The great thing about Sewanee? This wasn't something that only I experienced. Many of my peers talk about this feeling, and still do, and I've heard alums go on about what Sewanee has given them, many many years after they've graduated. 

Don't get me wrong; Sewanee didn't just give us beautiful friendships, a great support system, wonderful social lives and a view to die for... we also were lucky recipients of a world-class education that left us well prepared for jobs and grad school. 

To my alma mater, all I can say is this: thank you!

YSR

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