Today Thursday 11^th May is the Universities at Shady Grove’s (USG) Undergrad Graduation Celebration, my final exam for the semester and also my last day of blogging for USG Around The Grove. Today, is also the day that the rain has decided that it will send showers our way all day. To be honest, I wasn’t ready for all this.

Rain, rain go away.

I did that thing where you draw your breath in quickly because you don’t know what else to do. Mumbled something to myself about how it is going to be alright, you will make new friends after your senior class graduates, you will find stuff to do during summer break to occupy your time so as to not miss being in school, and you will write mad papers next semester so won’t miss blogging. But actually, I don’t really know if I believe all of that, I’m not ready for this.

I thought to myself that it was impossible for me to be the only one feeling this way. I reached out to some of my fellow classmates that are graduating this semester to find out if they were ready for life after USG. To my surprise, it turned out that I was the only one feeling not ready.

My classmates all acknowledged that life after USG will no doubt be one of the hardest transitions they have ever had to make. However, their time at USG has prepared them for life ahead. They all took the decision to stay local and attend college at the USG campus. However, there are no feelings of missed opportunities that attending a standard live in university may have provided. While attending USG, they gained many skills such as time management, money management, teamwork, multitasking and communication skills. And while they are without a doubt saddened that they will not be seeing me every week, they are confident that the skills learned and experienced gained at USG have made them ready for life ahead.

After speaking with them, I am now ready to leap into whatever is next. So with my new found confidence, I am spreading joy and well wishes today. To the graduates, congratulations on this significant milestone. The past few years may have gone by in just a blink of an eye, but you have your whole life ahead. You are brilliant, able and ambitious! Congratulations and well done. To the continuing students that have now completed another successful semester, as you cherish the fruits of your hard work, I wish that success keeps following you in everything that you do. Have a safe and enjoyable summer break and see you around campus in Fall 2017.

The USG Undergrad celebrations will go on despite the rain today, so be sure to attend!